Stephen Duponthttps://stephendupont.co
Marketing, PR, Content Strategy, CareersTue, 08 Jan 2019 22:29:04 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.267014587Make These Career Moves Now Before the Next Recession Hitshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StephenDupont/~3/cnoJNZRXXOM/
https://stephendupont.co/make-these-career-moves-now-before-the-next-recession-hits/#respondSat, 05 Jan 2019 20:18:49 +0000https://stephendupont.co/?p=1179Are You Ready for the Next Recession? Here are 10 Tips to Prepare Your Career to Better Navigate Life’s Ups and Downs. By Stephen Dupont, APR The U.S. economy continues to expand. In fact, according to the Federal Reserve of St. Louis, we are currently in the third longest economic expansion since World War II. […]

]]>Are You Ready for the Next Recession? Here are 10 Tips to Prepare Your Career to Better Navigate Life’s Ups and Downs.

By Stephen Dupont, APR

The U.S. economy continues to expand. In fact, according to the Federal Reserve of St. Louis, we are currently in the third longest economic expansion since World War II.

However, if you’ve been around long enough, you know that a recession will likely happen sometime in the future. It’s not a matter of if, but when. And while the stock market is not the economy, one can’t help but wonder what the future may hold after the enormous losses experienced by the stock markets in 2018. So when a recession does happen, you will want to be in the strongest possible position — not just to survive, but to thrive in it.

Whether a recession occurs within 18 months or five years, you should be always be looking for ways to reduce your exposure to negative events, for example, the loss of a major customer, the restructuring of your organization in response to changing market conditions, a merger or acquisition — any of which could occur even during the best of times.

For that matter, if you’re working in a job you don’t like, or for a boss you can’t stand, don’t wait until he goes or he finds a reason to cut you. Life is too short to spend another minute doing something you hate or working for someone who doesn’t value you and your contributions.

By acting now to enhance your personal brand and make smarter lifestyle choices, you can increase the likelihood that you will withstand whatever life throws at you, including the next downturn in the economy. Here are ten tips to take now to prepare for the ups and downs of our roller-coaster economy.

1.) Assess risk tolerance – As we get older, we often take on more risks while at the same time desiring shelter from that risk. For example, as we take on the risk of a mortgage for a home, we seek a good-paying job with a reputable company versus a company that is less well known or less financially stable to ensure that we can pay our mortgage. Ask yourself these questions: What’s the worst thing that would happen if I were to lose my job today? What would happen if I were seriously injured and could not work for several weeks or months? Is the organization I work for financially sound? What if our agency lost its biggest account? What if I were offered a dream job, but it meant moving to the other side of the country? Think about how you’d answer these and similar questions to better understand what the amount of risk and the types of career risks that you would be comfortable with, and not.

2.) Seek to Become Indispensable – Your reputation as someone who gets results (while maintaining your integrity) is the key to remaining gainfully employed or in demand by customers throughout your career. It’s that sort of a reputation that results in word-of-mouth buzz that keeps an employee in high demand at his or her current job, and the sought-after target of executive recruiters. Regardless of whether you’re happy where you work now, always focus on quality and generating results. But, in that same vein, don’t overlook opportunities to market your success or allow others to market your successes for you.

3.) Ask Yourself Some Hard Questions – The time to really examine your career life is now. And that starts by asking some really tough questions, such as: Why do I do what I do? I’m 50; what do I want to do with the last 15 to 20 years of my career? How can I have more of an impact on the world? What’s on my bucket list? When you have a clear, intimate understanding of what you really value, what makes you tick, and what you’re passionate about, it makes career decisions a lot easier. Take a day or two off and find a place where you can spend some time to think deeply about you. Complement this time with talking with trusted peers and mentors, or even hiring a career coach. Ask the hard questions today to give you the clarity you need for tomorrow.

Now is the time to ask yourself some really hard questions, such as “Why do you do what you do?” and “What am I being called to do with my life?”

4.) Update your LinkedIn Profile – I know, this is such an obvious suggestion. But the truth is, most people don’t update their profiles until they are forced to look for a new job. The reason you should update your profile now is to attract more great opportunities, and the attention of executive recruiters and potential employers — when you’re not actively looking. Use keywords that headhunters use to search for new talent in your industry and revise your profile to emphasize tangible results that you’ve delivered for your clients or organization. Tell a story about why you’re indispensable. And, don’t forget to put a professional photo of yourself on your LinkedIn page!

5.) Seek New Experiences – Regardless of economic conditions, potential employers and clients are always interested in hiring smart people with experience in a specific areas. Are there opportunities with your current employer that would allow you to expand the range of experiences that you could offer a future employer or client? Such experiences might include launching a new product or service, conducting a major event, overhauling your company’s brand, leading a major promotion, or working with a client in an industry with which you have little or no previous exposure.

6.) Invest in New Skills – Every year, you should set a goal of acquiring a new skill (or deepening a skill at which you are particularly strong) that will enhance your overall value to your current or future employer or clients. Want to become more proficient at pay-per-click? Then attend a class and learn it. Want to become better at content marketing? Attend a content marketing conference and gather insights from other professionals and companies. Want to work in senior management someday? Then enroll in an MBA program. If your employer won’t pay for you to learn new skills, then set aside a portion of your personal budget to invest in yourself.

Don’t wait until the recession hits to beef up your networking. Do it now. And do it regularly.

7.) Accelerate Your Networking – When is the worst time to ask for a networking coffee? The day after you’ve been laid off. Even if you’re in a job that you absolutely love, you should make it a regular habit of meeting with peers and people of influence within and outside of your industry. If you hate inviting someone out to lunch or coffee, do this: join a professional organization such as PRSA and get involved in a committee. Or, go to a MeetUp to learn about a topic, such as content marketing, where you might meet others with your same interest. Or, attend a workshop, seminar or industry conference. In this process, don’t forget to maintain relationships with old acquaintances, and look for opportunities to help others.

8.) Lower Your Living Expenses and Debt — Now is the time to lower your monthly expenses, pay down your debt and build up a war chest of cash savings. The real reason people fear a career crash is because they worry about paying the mortgage on their home, paying off their credit cards, keeping up their monthly smartphone payments or paying their car loans. If you take away that fear, you will be in a much better position to weather a downturn, avoid taking the first job that comes along, or take advantage of the unexpected opportunity.

9.) Take Care of Your Body – We live in a society that values both intellectual and physical vitality. People who eat healthy, get enough sleep, exercise regularly and know how to reduce their stress levels are, generally speaking, people who are more vibrant and ready to contribute solutions. It shows in their both their thinking and their mental attitude. Don’t take this lightly. Investing in your physical well being is an investment in your career that can help thwart the ageism bias that we all will eventually face.

10.) Take Care of Your People – If you own a firm or run a department, invest in your skills in becoming a better manager and a curator of talent. Sure employees leave for money and a better title, but they most often leave because they don’t feel appreciated, valued and recognized for their contributions, which are all within a manager’s ability to influence. Paying attention to the well being of your employees will pay dividends, both in the short term, and when times get tough.

Did you find this article of value? For more articles by Stephen Dupont, APR, visit his blog at www.stephendupont.co.

]]>https://stephendupont.co/make-these-career-moves-now-before-the-next-recession-hits/feed/01179https://stephendupont.co/make-these-career-moves-now-before-the-next-recession-hits/How to Develop Your Soft Skills (and not be replaced by a robot)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StephenDupont/~3/1A9TkVQzIdQ/
https://stephendupont.co/how-to-develop-your-soft-skills-and-not-be-replaced-by-a-robot/#respondThu, 03 Jan 2019 17:45:15 +0000https://stephendupont.co/?p=1167Developing critical soft skills is the key to long-term success in the workplace of 2030 and beyond (and even now) By Stephen Dupont, APR If you think you’ll be working in a business profession such as marketing, communications, legal, finance or sales in 2030 or beyond, let me put this simply and bluntly: the robots are coming. In the not-so-distant future, it’s highly probable that one of your co-workers will be a robot, assisting […]

]]>Developing critical soft skills is the key to long-term success in the workplace of 2030 and beyond (and even now)

By Stephen Dupont, APR

If you think you’ll be working in a business profession such as marketing, communications, legal, finance or sales in 2030 or beyond, let me put this simply and bluntly: the robots are coming.

In the not-so-distant future, it’s highly probable that one of your co-workers will be a robot, assisting you in the development of your work. Or, for that matter, with the press of a button, software on your computing device instantly gathers and packages data that you need — communications messaging, data analysis, sales programs, a contract, you name it.

This is not speculation. Look around you. Little by little, automation and AI are creeping into our lives and becoming normal. As we type an email on Google, it offers to finish our sentences based on an analysis of hundreds or thousands of previous emails that we’ve written. When we go to the grocery store, we find fewer people checking out my groceries and more self-check-out stations. Click on Amazon, and there awaits dozens of product suggestions based on our purchasing patterns.

While all of this is meant to make our lives happier and more productive, oddly (and disconcertingly), I’ve noticed that whenever I ask Siri, “Will robots take over the world?” I’m met with silence as I watch the whirling little icon on my iPhone. Hmmm.

How to fend off the Droids

So, what should you do to make sure that you’re still employable in 2030 and beyond?

The key is to develop skills the robots will have difficulty replicating. And, it just so happens that these are skills, critical skills actually, that you should be developing anyway to enhance your career today.

What are these skills? They’re what we call “soft” skills. Not programming, coding, or statistical analysis. Those are considered “hard” skills. What we’re talking about are skills such as:

Deep listening

Empathy

Presenting in front of others

Selling

Collaborating

Negotiating

Networking

Time management

Building consensus

Brainstorming

These are skills that we depend upon to work harmoniously with other human beings.

Speaking in front of others, in a meeting, or in public, is a critical soft skill to master.

Become self aware –The first step to strengthening your soft skills is to become aware of where you excel and where you need improvement. Some people are naturally good at networking or giving presentations, while others need to work on those skills. Ask yourself, “What do I truly enjoy doing?” or “What comes naturally for me?” Make a list of what you feel you’re good at and make a separate list of soft skills that you need to work on. For example, one skill that comes very naturally to me is interviewing people for market research or a writing project.

So how do you develop these skills? Consider these seven tips:

Ask for feedback –Ask people around you – those you trust and who are sincerely interested in seeing you succeed – for feedback on your soft skills. For example, a number of years ago, I asked my department head about my presentation skills. His feedback compelled me to join Toastmasters to practice those skills and eventually to seek out speaking engagements to refine them. I also sought the assistance of a presentation specialist who helped me learn how to create more compelling presentations. I don’t consider myself a natural presenter, so, to this day I am constantly challenging myself to seek new opportunities to build my skills as a professional speaker.

Get a coach– I know lots of people, myself included, who have hired trainers to help them build the habit of exercising or to teach a person how to correctly lift weights. In the same way, consider hiring a coach and trainer to help you enhance key soft skills, such as learning how to write more effectively or how to give more engaging presentations.

Volunteer– An excellent way to build soft skills to enhance your career is through volunteering. To learn how to lead, you may want to volunteer for the local chapter of a national professional society in your area and take on the role of leading a committee. To practice coaching skills, volunteer to coach a youth team through your local school district. Or, to learn how to become a better listener, volunteer to meet with seniors at a local assisted living residence. For example, by volunteering to serve on the board of directors for a local nonprofit, I learned how a board of directors acts and makes decisions.

Sign Up for a Retreat or Workshop– Earlier this year, my wife, an educator, participated in a five-day retreat to strengthen her leadership skills. It was an intense program involving 40 other college-level educators from across the country. The group was supported by twelve senior educators, who served as mentors. My wife came back exhilarated by what she experienced and learned, and immediately put her new-found skills to work in her job at a local private college.

Mentoring: Grow your career by being open to sharing your knowledge and expertise with others, and being open to learning from them, in turn.

Seek a Mentor or Become a Mentor– Robots infused with AI are constantly learning. That means you need to do so as well. But, instead of more facts and figures, you can gain from the wisdom of others who have honed their soft skills to master levels. In other words, now is the time to seek out a mentor, or actually a team of mentors, who are open to sharing the art of building and maintaining human relationships. Consider mentors of all ages and skill levels, even college students. I rely on my niece, a college student studying blockchain and cryptocurrencies, to better help me understand what these technologies are, and how they may be used in the world of marketing and communications where I work.

Embrace change – Probably the most important soft skill you should develop is your ability to confidently adapt to change. Employers of the future will seek people who are nimble and flexible — people who are open to trying new things and have the skills to persuade others to see the benefits of change. These include changes in a product or service, changes in policy, or changes in how a product or service is delivered. People who are good at embracing change are people who are curious. They are constantly seeking new ideas, they’re able to visualize multiple possibilities, and they allow themselves to make mistakes as part of their creative process. That constant reinvention also will help keep you highly marketable.

Don’t wait to develop your soft skills – get started now. Think of your career like investing in your 401k retirement account. Make a plan and focus on developing the key skills that you’ll need five, 10 or even 20 years from now — a little bit every day. In some cases, you may need to make a drastic change to acquire a new skill or to take your skills to a higher level. But more often than not, what most of us need to do is take action – even small actions – to build our confidence in skills that may not come naturally.

]]>https://stephendupont.co/how-to-develop-your-soft-skills-and-not-be-replaced-by-a-robot/feed/01167https://stephendupont.co/how-to-develop-your-soft-skills-and-not-be-replaced-by-a-robot/What I Learned from My Public Relations Internshiphttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StephenDupont/~3/UUu3ln4Shyc/
https://stephendupont.co/what-i-learned-from-my-public-relations-internship/#respondMon, 31 Dec 2018 19:54:32 +0000https://stephendupont.co/?p=1163By Kristian Evans, Senior, Augsburg University This fall (Sept. – Dec. 2018), I hired two seniors from Augsburg University, located near downtown Minneapolis where I work, to serve as communications/branded content interns for our firm, Pocket Hercules. As is my tradition for all my interns, for their final assignment, I asked them both to write […]

This fall (Sept. – Dec. 2018), I hired two seniors from Augsburg University, located near downtown Minneapolis where I work, to serve as communications/branded content interns for our firm, Pocket Hercules. As is my tradition for all my interns, for their final assignment, I asked them both to write what they learned during their internship. Here are observations by Kristian Evans, who will graduate in May 2019 with degrees in communications and political science.

In my first year of college, a guest speaker came to my Principles of Marketing class at Augsburg University to talk about his work for an ad agency called Pocket Hercules. He explained the origins of the admittedly strange name and his work. That class visitor was Stephen Dupont. Three years later I found myself walking into the office for my first day (September 2018) of an internship with him that has done more for my writing than any other educational experience.

While I’d had internship experiences prior to coming to the Pocket, this was the first time I’d been in an office that wasn’t a boring cubicle-filled hell-scape.

The space at Pocket Hercules is quite the opposite. Basically, what you’d envision when thinking about what a millennial ad agency would look like.

Open concept? Check

Exposed Brick? Check

Free Snacks? Check and check

While all of what is wonderful, the things I’ll take with me from Pocket Hercules (aside from the snacks) is the knowledge of how different brands try to tell their own story.

Telling a Brand’s Story

Because I work as the senior news editor for my school newspaper, The Echo, I understood the very basics of producing and cultivating content; my internship at Pocket Hercules helped me learn valuable skills that make any style of writing stronger.

Pocket Hercules interns Winston Heckt and Kristian Evans

The accounts I worked with everyday varied greatly, but I was always enthusiastic about what I was learning. Going from researching tips on how to plan a winter wedding to learning about safety technology on a semi-truck really is just par for the course at the Pocket. It is a place where curiosity allows your writing to thrive.

Learning about writing was hardly the only thing I learned. Each and everyday I came into the office I had various assignments that had me engaging in my work in all sorts of different ways. I conducted interviews, wrote content and drafted social media posts all with the intention of making a brand’s unique voice stand out.

Through all of the content I created, the idea of storytelling remained in the forefront of my mind. Professional truck drivers entering a new career after a serving overseas, kids learning the value of jobs in the trades and a golf course blending the past and future of the game together all told different stories in different ways with the same goal of growing a community.

Beyond Writing

To talk to individuals who were shaped by or helped shaped a vision for a brand made writing the pieces feel more impactful. It’s one thing to hear the facts and figures of how a product or service benefits a customer, but it’s another to hear the personal stories of people finding fulfillment and purpose through the work of a brand. Finding those meaningful connections and writing about them brings a value to this work that I never anticipated.

There are plenty of internships that value your work, but at Pocket Hercules, your future is valued just as much, if not more.

The opportunity to explore downtown Minneapolis through the (initially) complex skyway system and have informational interviews with other communication professionals during the semester helped me to both build a network and develop a better understanding of what my career could look like.

Words of Thanks

A massive thanks to everyone at Pocket Hercules who helped made this experience so impactful. And thanks to Stephen Dupont, who took the time to answer each and every question about writing (note: I won’t ever use the word “target” in a piece again) as well as networking and career development opportunities that will benefit long after I leave.

Finally thanks to fellow intern Winston Heckt for putting up with me for an entire semester. It’s hard to imagine anyone being better at construction-related puns; it’s been wonderful to share my time at Pocket Hercules with you.

Kristian Evans is a senior studying communications and political science at Augsburg University, located near downtown Minneapolis. He will graduate in May 2019 and plans to pursue a career in communications and public policy. To learn more about Kristian, visit his LinkedIn page.

Stephen Dupont, APR, is vice president of public relations and branded content at the Minneapolis creative and branding firm Pocket Hercules. Dupont blogs about creativity, curiosity, marketing, careers and strategic foresight at stephendupont.co. To reach him, email stephen.dupont@pockethercules.com or visit pockethercules.com.

]]>https://stephendupont.co/what-i-learned-from-my-public-relations-internship/feed/01163https://stephendupont.co/what-i-learned-from-my-public-relations-internship/What I Learned as a Fall Internhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StephenDupont/~3/APt6AsjiQr0/
https://stephendupont.co/what-i-learned-as-a-fall-intern/#respondMon, 31 Dec 2018 17:09:05 +0000https://stephendupont.co/?p=1157By Winston Heckt, senior, Augsburg University This fall (Sept. – Dec. 2018), I hired two seniors from Augsburg University, located near downtown Minneapolis where I work, to serve as communications/branded content interns for our firm, Pocket Hercules. As is my tradition for all my interns, for their final assignment, I asked them both to write […]

This fall (Sept. – Dec. 2018), I hired two seniors from Augsburg University, located near downtown Minneapolis where I work, to serve as communications/branded content interns for our firm, Pocket Hercules. As is my tradition for all my interns, for their final assignment, I asked them both to write what they learned during their internship. Here are observations by Winston Heckt, who will graduate in May 2019 with degrees in communications and film/video direction and production.

For most of my time at Augsburg University I focused on my film degree, working on a combination of independent projects, freelance videos, and undergraduate research. Some of my projects made it into local film festivals and I presented my research findings at a national conference. All in all, I felt good about my film credentials post-graduation.

My communication portfolio was another matter entirely. I’m a staff writer for Augsburg’s student newspaper, The ECHO, so I’m no stranger to writing, but with all the time I spent pursuing film I had only dipped my toes into the waters of communication-related work. That is until my academic advisor told me about Pocket Hercules and encouraged me to apply for a fall internship with the firm.

Not knowing much about advertising beyond what I learned from watching Mad Men, the TV program about the New York advertising world back in the 1960s, I decided to give it a shot. One interview and a sample press release later, I was an intern for Stephen Dupont, Pocket Hercules’ vice president of public relations.

During my time as an intern I mostly wrote public relations and ad copy, such as feature articles, social media posts, profiles about construction workers, and catalog copy.

I learned a whole lot from writing for a range of clients, from the different types of writing formats, and from having Stephen as an editor and mentor. Here are the lessons that stuck with me the most.

Changing the Narrative

A lot of my writing was about the success stories of people who had been helped by the Construction Careers Foundation and Transport America, and through this writing I gained a deeper insight into the hard working individuals in America’s construction and truck driving industries.

When I was in high school I was told the narrative that construction and truck driving are for people who can’t make it in college, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. One of the first people I interviewed was Amanda Gardas, a pipefitter and a military veteran who does complex math off the top of her head while working in an environment where one mistake could have potentially deadly consequences.

It became clear to me that working in these industries requires just as much intelligence, hard work and dedication as it does to get a college degree, and it was fulfilling to know that the work I was doing was focused on changing the false narrative I was given in high school.

Pocket Hercules interns Winston Heckt and Kristian Evans

Finding the Humanity in Every Story

Not only was I helping change the narrative about these industries, I also got a master class in crafting people’s’ experiences into a compelling narrative. Stephen often told me the key to good writing was to take in all the facts and boil them down into the fundamental elements of the narrative, like cooking stew.

Often the employee profiles written for one of Pocket Hercules’ clients boiled down to identifying how the client (trucking company, construction company) enables their employees to follow their passions and provide for their families through meaningful work. Even when writing copy for a print ad or a catalogue, the narrative always came back to how these products and services positively impact the human beings they’re geared toward.

Stephen taught me that everything comes back to showing care and compassion for the human beings behind the copy.

Building Professional Connections

Prior to my time with Pocket Hercules I was staunchly anti-Linkedin. I thought it was just an older, business-focused Facebook that I didn’t need because I could make connects with my existing social media. Thankfully, Stephen forced me to make a profile and I quickly saw the light. Simply having a Linkedin upped my professional game, and by putting links to my resume, website, and samples of my video and writing work, I realized I could save a lot of time by having all of my credentials in a readily available central location.

But Stephen didn’t stop at getting me on Linkedin, he also helped me set up informational interviews with local media producers working in the Twin Cities. We spoke at length about the opportunities for videographers here in the cities, I toured the facilities at Twin Cities Public Television, and I made meaningful connections with highly skilled folks doing the work I aspire toward.

Before this internship, the professional world was largely a mystery to me. It was something I knew I had to break into but I was unsure how to go about doing so. Now I have a professional presence online, my writing skills have improved significantly, and I finally have real world experience in the communication field.

Thanks to Stephen Dupont for pushing me to develop my skills and for giving me the confidence to engage with the professional world. The lessons I learned will stick with me no matter where I end up.

Thanks to the rest of the Pocket Hercules crew who were always friendly and encouraging.

And a final thanks to Kristian Evans, my fellow intern. Having you around to bounce bad golf and construction puns off of made my writing significantly better in the long run. I’m very glad you and I interned at Pocket Hercules together.

Winston Heckt is a senior studying communications and film production at Augsburg University, located near downtown Minneapolis. He will graduate in May 2019 and plans to pursue a career in film and video direction and production. To learn more about Winston, visit his LinkedIn page or check out his website, www.winstonhecktvideography.com.

]]>https://stephendupont.co/what-i-learned-as-a-fall-intern/feed/01157https://stephendupont.co/what-i-learned-as-a-fall-intern/Chinese Millennials and Gen Zers Take the World’s Stagehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StephenDupont/~3/yw7btKuxlT4/
https://stephendupont.co/chinese-millennials/#respondThu, 13 Sep 2018 03:16:54 +0000https://stephendupont.co/?p=1104Chinese Millennials and Gen Zers Take the World’s Stage Conversation with Zak Dychtwald, Author of Young China: How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World By Stephen Dupont, APR When we think about the next ten, 20 or 30 years, I, like many Americans, think about the world in terms of how the […]

Conversation with Zak Dychtwald, Author of Young China: How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World

By Stephen Dupont, APR

When we think about the next ten, 20 or 30 years, I, like many Americans, think about the world in terms of how the United States will lead in areas such as culture influence and technological innovation.

Zak Dychtwald in China.

In his new book, Young China, Zakary Dychtwald says that would be a mistake. Because the world as we know it is likely to experience a seismic shift due to the sheer gravity of one key factor – the more than 417 million Chinese people who belong to the Millennial and Generation Z generations.

I had the opportunity to speak with Zak twice recently about why he believes China’s Millennials and Gen Zers are ready for their turn on the world’s stage and what the impact of their efforts in redefining such things as day-to-day culture and technology (artificial intelligence, clean energy, space travel) may mean for America and the world.

If you do nothing else, do this: Shy of learning Mandarin Chinese, take the time to start learning more about America’s #1 trading partner and its #1 competitor in the world.

Stephen Dupont: Zak, why China? Why did you decide to study Chinese Millennials and Generation Zers, and write a book about them?

Zak Dychtwald: To answer that, I need to step back about why I ended up writing a book in the first place. I had no intention of writing a book when I went to China. But, what ultimately drove me to write the book was that as I was getting to know, on a deep level, a group of people in the world, whom I felt were pretty misunderstood, I felt compelled to write a book about them — the young China that I came to know.

What struck me was the way that people in the West chose to characterize China – its government, its economy, its culture and its people. I noticed a lot of catastrophe-driven news stories, for example. It became clear to me that those news stories did not reflect what was happening with Chinese younger generation, who I felt were defining China’s modern identity.

I see a China on the rise, and that this young generation is coming to embody it and represent it on the world stage. As I was immersing myself into its culture, I read every book I could find about China to understand who they actually are, what matters to them, how they see the world, how they see themselves, and how they see their future. But as I was reading and comparing what I was actually seeing day-to-day while living there, I saw this massive gap in the understanding of the people. What I really wanted was to write a book that I wanted to read.

There are more than 417 million Chinese Millennials.

So, with the encouragement of my Chinese friends – really with the strong encouragement of them, because I was not super excited about the prospect of writing a book, but recognizing that there was a real need, a real want, and that I could be one of the people to do it, ended up pushing me to write this book.

Stephen Dupont: So, could you dig a bit deeper into that question, Zak. As I understand it, you’ve become fluent in Mandarin Chinese, is that right?

Zak Dychtwald: Yes.

Stephen Dupont: How did your experience in learning Mandarin as well as living in China for several years — help you to understand the young Chinese mindset?

Zak Dychtwald: Well, I think of it as more of a mental diet. When I first went to China, I didn’t really speak the language, and I knew what I needed to do was immerse myself completely into the culture and the language in order to learn the fastest. So every single thing I did I tried to do in Chinese.

Stephen Dupont: But not all foreigners do what you do…

Zak Dychtwald: No they don’t, and this is a perspective to share with your readers. When you move to China as a foreigner, that does not mean immersion in the culture. There are bastions of foreign people in every city – an international community that does not necessarily want to dive in head first into the Chinese culture.

So, the music I listened to, the language on my phone and my computer, the TV I watched, the movies I watched, the podcasts I listened to, the friendships I had, the roommates I had, the dates I went on – which started painfully awkward, but then evolved into something more complex – I did in Chinese. And not just learn the language but the culture.

I think we often use language to proxy a culture. China is so linguistically distant from English, and likewise, the culture is distant from that of Western Europe or the United States. So I felt that if I put all of my relationships, all of my information inputs, all of my fears, all of my wants, and all of my desires into the language of Chinese and I talked about them with my Chinese friends in their language, I’d be significantly closer to being able to understand how young people in China see their country and the world.

It was a level of immersion that I was totally committed to. I didn’t realize it until afterwards, but it appears that this approach is relatively unique. But to me, that was the only way I knew how to do it.

Stephen Dupont: Do you go back to China often?

Zak Dychtwald: I was there full time for four years, and when I returned, I would spend about half my year in the United States and a third a year in China. I recently made the decision to move back to China on a more full-time basis and invert those proportions. There is a lot of travel in my future, as I really want to be bridging one place to the other effectively.

Stephen Dupont: China, like the United States, is a big country where 500 or more dialects are spoken, so I’m told. America is a patchwork of people — we have the people in the Deep South, the Midwest, the Northeast, Silicon Valley. China has multiple cultures represented within its country. Did you happen to focus on a particular area or region of China to get to know the country? Does Shanghai represent the face of China?

Shanghai, China – East Asia, Urban Skyline, Cityscape, City

Zak Dychtwald: There’s something that I refer to called the Shanghai Fallacy. It’s that when most people visit China, they go to Shanghai. They look at the city, at all of the foreign restaurants, the styles that people are wearing, and they have an English-speaking guide who shows them around the French Quarter and all the things that are kind of comfortable for them.

A lot of these people are only seeing things and people with whom they can interact with in English, so that’s the version they’re getting and sharing with their co-workers, friends and family when they return home.

When they see Shanghai, they think: “Modernization means Westernization.” In other words, the process of China becoming a modern country — a modern power — means sliding into the Western model. Not just politically or economically, but culturally in terms of what they like to wear, eat, or watch on TV – that it’s all going to be Westernized all over China.

In reality, Shanghai is the least representative city in China. Shanghai did Westernize as it modernized, and it’s the only city to do that in China, period. Beijing is not that way, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are not that way, and Chengdu is not that way.

So, to answer your question, what I tried to do is focus on emerging second-tier cities as part of my immersion into Chinese culture — cities such as Suzhou and Changzhou, for example.

Suzhou Industrial Park

It used to be that if I was from Guangzhou versus Chengdu, I would encounter a different dialect of Chinese in each of those two cities. This is true of anywhere you go in the world — if a culture is isolated long enough, it develops its own lingo or dialect. It makes sense that where you were from was the most defining characteristic in terms of who you are or how you defined yourself as a person.

But, bizarrely — and this is at the core of my book — that’s become less the case anymore. For the first time in 5,000 years of Chinese history, it’s no longer where you are from within China that defines you, but what generation you are from.

It used to be that it was very difficult for Chinese from one province or one city to interact with people from other towns, because they all used to speak different dialects. But now, everyone speaks Mandarin, so there’s been this homogenization occurring throughout the country. When you are from, not where you are from, is now the most defining characteristic.

Stephen Dupont: What about the movement of more Chinese from the countryside to cities?

Zak Dychtwald: Yes, that’s another important factor that is redefining China. There has been this massive urbanization push — hundreds of millions of people who have, and continue to, move from rural China to urban China.

Who’s moving? It’s mostly what you and I would call Millennials and Generation Z Chinese. Young people from small towns all over the country are pouring into big cities. And so it’s again, less about where you’re from and more about when you’re from, because if you’re a young person, you’re likely in a city, now. Which is, again, the first time ever in Chinese history. And so, you have, because of the Internet, because of WeChat (China’s most popular social app, which has broad functionality and boasts 1 billion users) because of the common language, because of TV shows, which Chinese can now watch at the same time throughout the country, you have more homogeneity within China than ever before.

In 1911, Sun Yat-sen, the father of modern China, described China as a sheet of loose sand — a lot of disparate nodes that were sort of on the same holding receptacle.

Chinese pose with portrait of Sun Yat-sen near the monument to national heroes on the Tian’anmen Square.

The project of modern China, over the last 100 years, in a lot of ways, has been linking the country together to create a more modern version of a unified China. So having the same language, an infrastructure program that links the entire country through railways, and the Internet, are all part of this ongoing process of unifying China.

This is the cool part when I think about China’s Millennials — they’re starting a modern Chinese culture. There’s an emerging Millennial mindset within China about what it means to be Chinese in the modern world, so not just what it’s always meant to be Chinese, but what it means today. And that’s happening now. So while it’s important for each city to have its own identity, this new mindset is developing irrespective of location, and more across generational lines.

Stephen Dupont: In the United States, much has been written about American Millennials, and now you’re seeing a lot of articles about Gen Zers, and the articles are talking about what they want, what they want for their lives, what they want for their country, what they want for work. Do Chinese Millennials and Chinese Gen Zers want a lot of what American Millennials and Gen Zers want? Or is it something different?

Zak Dychtwald: Chinese Millennials and Gen Zers want something different than their Western counterparts. I think Americans need to recognize that young Chinese grew up with their own environment, their own cultural backdrop, and with their own set of economic pressures.

Remember, in 1993, the per capita GDP in China was around $377 per year. Today’s young Chinese have watched their country transition from extreme poverty to moderate wealth in their lifetime. Millennials in the United States, on the other hand, have for the most part, have grown up in moderate wealth, and we remain a wealthy nation. If environment matters for a generation growing up — which I believe it does – then I would say you have young people who are about the same age, but have very different experiences, and therefore, want different things from life.

A big part of the difference has to do with the identity of Chinese Millennials. They want to be seen as unique, they want to be recognized as not just wanting to be like American Millennials but with different haircuts. They want to be recognized for their own individual identity as a culture, and as a nation, rather than just American wannabes.

On top of that, Chinese Millennials have a major want for freedom. But it’s not how you and I, as Americans see freedom.

Stephen Dupont: By the way Zak, how many Chinese Millennials are there?

Zak Dychtwald: That is an important question. Here’s why: In the United States, there are about 89 million Millennials. In China, there are 417 million Chinese Millennials. Think about that – that’s more than the entire population of the U.S. and Canada combined. For your reference, there are more Millennials in China than there are Millennials in North America, Europe, and the Middle East combined.

Stephen Dupont: What about India?

Zak Dychtwald: India is the only other country that has nearly the same number of Millennials as China, however, India does not have nearly the same economic and political clout as China as a whole, or as this young generation has.

So, when you talk about impact, Chinese Millennials are having, and will continue to have, an enormous impact on their own country, as well as on the world, simply because of the sheer number of them.

Let me put it in another way: If you’re wondering who you’re little Johnny or Jennifer is going to be competing with to get into the best universities, to get the best jobs, or to buy the best homes, it’s going to be a Chinese Millennial.

Stephen Dupont: What’s the difference between how Chinese Millennials were raised compared to American Millennials? What do you think has been the influence of the different ways that they were raised on each group’s approach to the future?

Zak Dychtwald: Millennial Chinese, as well as Generation Z Chinese, face enormous pressure. The way that youth are raised in China is fundamentally different than in America and many other Western countries.

It boils down to one test, the Gaokao — the country’s college entrance exam. In the United States, we have this ideal of raising well-rounded children and a shared vision that, “I can be the captain of the speech and debate team; I can be on the swim team, and all of that will help me get into a good college.” And, by in large, our system recognizes that as important.

But in China, there is only one determining factor in terms of how you get into college, and that’s the Gaokao.

So, when I’m five and I’m at a sleepover with my friends here in the United States, my peer in China is studying for that test.

When I am at swim practice in the morning before going to high school, my peer in China is in the library studying.

If you are the captain of the cheerleading team, that’s great, but your peer in China is studying.

There’s a study culture that dominates everything as a young person in China, and so it leads to a pressured lifestyle that we can’t really fathom.
Let me share a story with you…

I was teaching English in China during my first eight months in the country. I was teaching a kind of well-to-do class on the weekend where technology was emphasized, such as coding. So there was a group of five kids in my class who were about five or six years old. We also had two teaching aides and one foreign teacher. There was this boy I remember who had these sneakers that lit up whenever you stepped on the heels. He was an absolutely adorable kid.

What was different about this class was there was a glass partition where 10 parents and 20 grandparents (China’s 4-2-1 demographics: 4 grandparents for every 2 parents for every 1 child) were watching the class. So you had 30 adults watching every click of a microscope, every pound of a keyboard, and every twist of a robot that these young kids, that the five children were doing in the class.

When the class was done, I went out to talk with the parents. I noticed in a corner of the room this particular little boy with the light-up sneakers surrounded by his parents and grandparents and he was crying. His mother and his grandmother were in front of him showing him what appeared to be a notebook full of paper. As I approached, I see on the pieces of paper all of the words we studied that day – microscope, seashell, dolphin, robot – written in English. His grandmother and his mother are quizzing the boy. I asked, “What’s going on?” as I didn’t assign any homework. The boy’s mother says back to me: “Our son will have to take the Gaokao college entrance exam in 13 years. We’re trying to give him the edge.”

Stephen Dupont: Was that normal? I mean, did you see other parents putting that type of pressure on their kids?

Zak Dychtwald: That wasn’t unique. The competition in Chinese society for a position in a private high school and for a position in a good college is unbelievable. To get into the best schools in China, it’s not, like, how many per 100, it’s many per 10,000 are admitted. But the impact goes beyond that to the competition to get a top job and to marry. The level of competition within China is fierce, and it leads to a type of childhood that we can’t understand.

The other factor in all of this is pride. This young generation in China has watched their country, their family, and themselves grow wealthy and rise into a position of power faster and larger than any other cohort or country in the history of the world. They feel they have a lot to be proud of.

Stephen Dupont: Can you add some context to that?

Zak Dychtwald: Yes. Think about it in this way. In my lifetime, the U.S. GDP has grown 2.5 times since I was born in 1990. So, generally speaking, the things we can buy and the places we can go is about 2.5 times better today than it was in 1990. But in China, for that same period, the GDP has grown 27 times. (Note: These statistics are calculated using World Bank statistics on per capita GDP, 1990-2017.)

Zak Dychtwald

How does that compare to other countries? India’s growth is just over 5x; Brazil is 3.2x; Germany is 2.0x. The point is: what China’s population has witnessed over the past 30 years is unprecedented in modern history. Isn’t it ironic that a country ruled by the Communist Party has created the most successful capitalistic revolution in the last 30 years – and really, actually, in the history of economics. There’s no precedent for what this young generation has witnessed. They’re becoming more aware of that and feel proud about what they’ve accomplished.

Here in America, we’re in a bit of an identity crisis, obviously. We elected a president who ran on the platform of making America great again, which sort of suggests that we don’t think we’re that great now. Obviously, American Millennials didn’t do the most of that voting, but there’s the real question of what is America’s role in the future. This young generation in China sees their country becoming more powerful, and taking on a leadership position in the world. They’re very proud of that.

Stephen Dupont: How has the amount of growth, and the creation of wealth that has been created in China over the past couple decades impacted the every day Chinese Millennial?

Zak Dychtwald: Here’s a good example. In 1990, there were a million or maybe two million electric refrigerators throughout China for more than a billion people. There were very few cars on the road because most Chinese biked to work. And even then, a bicycle was a luxury.

What I see happening today is what I call the “development of desire.” Here’s an entire nation, that is learning how to play versus learning how to survive. China, by the numbers, is the biggest foodie nation in the world. So, one of the first things that has changed as more Chinese Millennials have disposable income is the amount of time and money they’re spending on out. The amount of caloric intake for the average person in China has, compared to 60 years ago, fully doubled. And, they’re eating more meat. The amount of meat that the Chinese are eating has gone through the roof within the past decade. People say that you can tell China’s level of happiness by the price of pork that day.

Then there’s the amount of TV they’re watching, and the number of movies they’re going out to see. Right now, you can’t have a movie opening in Hollywood if it doesn’t have a second opening in Beijing. Movies serve as a way for the average Chinese to kick back and relax. You’re also seeing more people playing sports, too. So there’s a recognition that studying isn’t everything and that there should be the pursuit of a more well-rounded ecosystem.

Mobile Internet use among Chinese consumers. Source: Bain & Company

One easy way to look at this is the amount that Chinese spent online last year. Actually, let’s just look at mobile spend. According to Bain & Company, in the U.S., we spent 1 trillion CNY in 2016. In China, during that same year, consumers spent 60 trillion CNY, so, 60 to 1. The Chinese market has adapted to shorten the distance between want and have, and this is already far beyond what we have in the United States.

Chinese overseas travel forecast. Source: Goldman Sachs

Here’s another interesting observation: Only nine percent of the county’s population of 1.379 billion has a passport, but two-thirds of those people who do have a passport in China are under the age of 37 – they’re Millennials.

So it’s a generation that wants to see the world, when their parents could not. There’s a tremendous desire to experience things – and this is, by the way, one of the overlaps between American Millennials and Chinese Millennials. Chinese Millennials are much more experience-driven in China than older generations – similar to what you’re seeing in the United States. By the way, this is something we learned from the Boomers; I would say there are more similarities between American Boomers and Chinese Millennials, in terms of what they signify culturally. There’s the want to individuate, there’s the want to sort of rebel from their parents. They’re both known as the “Me Generation,” they’re both known for being sort of selfish and wanting stuff, wanting to experience things, wanting to go to that concert, and wanting to think differently than the older generation.

To Chinese Millennials, it’s not about buying a Gucci belt. It’s about having an unforgettable trip and making lasting memories. This young generation in China, particularly because they grew up in such an insular nation for so long, is in this major exploratory phase. It’s pretty beautiful to watch.

Stephen Dupont: I recently attended a conference hosted by the World Future Society. Long-term planning was a discussion item and one of the speakers made the comparison between the Chinese government’s approach to thinking many years out, and the U.S. approach, which seems more reactionary – don’t do anything until a crisis comes along.

A good example of the Chinese approach is its $900 billion investment into the new Silk Road project, which will build an overland trading system between China and London.

So, do you think young Chinese Millennials and Generation Zers will continue with this long-term planning mindset even as they seek more freedom, and are exposed to other cultures through international travel?

Zak Dychtwald: There’s two different ways of looking at this question. The first is from a political perspective. From that viewpoint, there’s the argument that China is playing chess, and the U.S. is playing checkers. China thinks in generations, and I actually think to a certain degree, that plays out. I’ll speak more about that in a second.

China’s young generation is different than the older generation in China, which was defined by their ability to chiku [吃苦], or to eat bitter. It’s a word that means to endure and persevere through hardship while at the same time, to press forward. Or, to do difficult things for a long period of time at the prospect of delayed gratification. Which is sort of what you’re referring to when you think of the Chinese approach to long-term planning. It’s this idea that, “If I work hard for 20 years, and recognize that I’m not going get a payout until 20 years from now, I’m gonna have a better life, and more importantly, my kids are going to have a better life — the next generation will have a better life.

What’s so different between the young Chinese generation and the older generation is, while they still have that “eat bitter” mentality (again, remember, many Chinese Millennials were raised in poverty) they’re a tougher, harder-working generation than most global Millennials, with the exception of other East Asian cultures, especially Singapore and South Korea.

Chinese Millennials in Beijing’s Qianmen night markets.

However, this younger generation in China has a far greater want than their parents to live in the moment, to experience and enjoy themselves now. With that, we’re starting to witness savings rates going down among young Chinese, and you’re seeing young Chinese talking with each other about the value of enjoying what they have today versus constantly putting off and planning for the future.

Stephen Dupont: Can you speak to the young Chinese mindset about dealing with the United States? How do they see it?

Zak Dychtwald: So there’s now the perception that if you want a deal with the United States, it’s likely that every four years the deal will get torn up. The TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) is probably the best, most recent example, of that.

You referred to the new Silk Road project. It’s known as the Belt and Road Initiative, and there’s actually up to $7 trillion in funding for this. There’s more than 70 countries involved, so it’s not just Mongolia and Russia and the places around it, but like you said, it’s going to go all the way to London, and it will impact countries such as Kenya and Indonesia, too. It’s a massive initiative.

At a time where it looks like every four years the United States might tear up a deal, China is building its relationships in concrete and steel and in bridges and ports — to last not just every four years, not just every ten years, but to last generations. And from a political and economic standpoint, a lot of people, or a lot of countries, are recognizing that. They’re saying: “You know, I get that China has its own motivations, but it’s not aid, it’s not out of good will. They’re making an economic deal, a business deal, that we can understand, and we need the money. And I’d rather dance with China, recognizing that they’ll be in a similar place 10 or 15 years from now. Whereas, it’s hard to say where the U.S. will be in that same period of time.”

Stephen Dupont: So, our current U.S. administration seems to be basically overturning or dramatically changing a lot of our country’s long-time alliances, and seems to be pushing itself more toward Russia, which is our 30th largest trading partner. At the same time, the U.S. is antagonizing our largest trading partner, China, with tariffs. How do Chinese Millennials see this? Are they scratching their heads, like I am, wondering, “Why is the U.S. becoming more friendly with Russia when in fact, we are their number one trading partner?”

Zak Dychtwald: Here’s what it looks like from within China. First, it looks like President Trump is beholden to Russia in some way that we don’t yet understand. Because like you’re saying, it

just defies logic. There are variables that are not clear to the Chinese as to why Trump is favoring Russia. Because in terms of what evidence we have internationally — not just you and I — but from China – it looks like Trump clearly has a conflict of interest somewhere, and we can’t see it entirely.

But, let me speak in more broad terms. What the United States is doing to China is consistent with a long-held narrative, which is that the United States and the Western world is threatened by China and is intentionally trying to constrain its rise. So, by the way, this is in part propaganda — the Opium Wars (1839 – 1860) – which Chinese refer to now as “fù xīng,” [复兴] which means, a rejuvenation.

This rejuvenation means that China was once great. It was once the most powerful nation and empire in the world (in the early 1800s), and for about 1,000 years that was true. And then, at one point, it had a terrible fall, and it began with the Opium Wars (war with the British Empire). The Chinese see this as 100 Years of Humiliation, in which China allowed itself to become weak. It refused to have its own industrial revolution, and its own scientific revolution, while the rest of the world moved forward.

And at the same time, in this weakened state, the Western world took advantage of it. It made it intentionally weak by funneling opium into the country, and then sort of made it a half-colony in its own land. So, that is the narrative from within China: “We were once strong, we got weak, in part because of our own weaknesses and in part because of foreign aggression.” And now, what the United States is doing and what – and this is, again, part propaganda and part sort of just what it looks like – is it’s trying to continue to keep China down, to keep it from being a world power.

So, from a young Chinese’ point-of-view, it looks like what the United States is doing in terms of tariffs is blatant aggression. And that’s consistent with the U.S. just trying to protect its own power because it feels threatened by China.

Then, there’s another angle to this. The trade war sort of tacitly acknowledges is there is a growing equality between China and what they’ve always looked at as the major superpower in the world, which is the United States.

It’s similar to the nuclear power parity between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Ten years ago, you couldn’t have had a trade war with China, based on China’s economy at that time. It wouldn’t have made sense.

So, as painful as the trade war is for China, and for us, too, there is a bit of pride, like, “Okay, we are now eye-to-eye with what has, for our entire childhood, been sort of the city on the hill, the foil for China’s development, which is the United States.”

That’s different. Again, it goes back to this pride thing. It’s suddenly, “Hey, you know what, we’re the number two duking it out with number one, and doing a pretty damn good job.” That’s a different mindset than 15 years ago.

Stephen Dupont: Zak, as you can see, most of my questions here have been focused on this perceived and real competition between China and the United States. But how do Chinese Millennials and Chinese Gen Zers look at their neighbors, such as the Millennials in Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, or their neighbors to the north such as Russia, and how do they see themselves in that sphere of the world?

Zak Dychtwald: That’s a great question. So, if you look at what influences the young generation in China, America is huge with its media exports, such as our music and media. But South Korea and Japan are also massive. South Korean soap operas, South Korean TV shows, South Korean K-pop, South Korean karaoke culture, has been a major influence on this young generation in China.

On top of that, there is a sort of an East-Asian kinship. It’s this idea that you want to see people people who look like you, represented on TV, and in the media. Oprah talks about it — the importance of seeing powerful, positive African American women and men in the media to creating role models for African-American children. To see South Koreans that create music, and style, and fashion, and TV shows, for young people in China, you know what, there’s a closeness there that they can’t imagine when looking non-Asian performers.

There’s a closeness between the East Asian cultures, that really isn’t there with Russia, definitely, or even with Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia, particularly countries such as Thailand, are places that China still sees as developing, they see as sort of poor and backwards compared to them. This goes back to this idea of pride — those places are still developing, they’re on the path that China forged, but China is the big player in the region.

Japan is interesting, because of the tormented history between Japan and China — particularly World War II and Japanese occupation. The young generation in China does not have that blind nationalism that Japan is evil as the older generation has.

That’s not to say that there aren’t people who feel that. Because there are. But among the more urban educated crowd it does not carry the same weight. As an aside, I understand this because I’m Jewish-American. When you read the textbooks in China, which go into the horrifying details of the Japanese occupation of China, you can see why the Chinese would feel like they do toward the Japanese. But with the younger generations, that level of animosity is lessening.

Stephen Dupont:There are a lot of people who are carefully watching China’s investments in artificial intelligence, space, and green energy. The narrative I’m hearing is that China is investing heavily in these areas, whereas, the United States seems to be almost, in the example of clean energy, turning its back on that entire industry.

How are Chinese Millennials, who are fully in the workforce, driving this focus on new technology and innovation?

Zak Dychtwald: The innovation and creativity of this younger generation in China is probably the biggest watershed difference between this generation and older generations.

The young generation has the capacity for innovation and creativity, and the older generation was generally seen to not have that. So how do they see innovation? They see it as the ticket to China’s future. This young generation will not be making the world’s shirts — that’s not what they will be doing. They’re forward-looking and they recognize there is major value to leadership.

They say to themselves and each other: “My family can get wealthy if I create something that is a new technology, or a new way of absorbing energy from the soil, or a new innovation from AI, or a new app that can change the supply chain.”

Those are the people who are making the news every day in China, and they are the role models that people are looking towards. They recognize that these people are changing their personal and family fortunes, as well as the course of the country.

So, there’s an enormous buzz, right now, in China around innovation and around startup culture. Part of that is just organic. Again, China, and particularly in the mobile space, is far ahead of where we are in the United States – especially in the blending of social and e-commerce. You know, I could order a pen, a computer, and a motorcycle in the morning, off of JingDong (JD.com) or Alibaba, and it’ll be there in the afternoon that day. There’s another level of how that’s integrated everything is becoming in China.

The other side of innovation involves government incentives.

In contrast, where Trump is focused on coal, in China that is a major signal, which to them says, “Okay, one of the biggest players in the world is shrinking away from this green energy. That’s an opportunity for us.” (Note: Read this article from the New York Times on China’s $360 billion investment into clean energy for further insight.)

Keep this in mind: China’s aging population combined with its single-child generation means that over time, China will not have enough people to support its manufacturing economy anymore. So they need to create more value per person. And the way to do that is with innovation. Green energy, for example, is for the Chinese government, an opportunity to escape the middle-income trap — the idea that developing nations get stuck as a moderately wealthy country.

The ability to be a leader in green energy, artificial intelligence, robotics or biotechnology, for China, are areas that the rest of the world is shrinking away from. Because of their government structure, they can incentivize their incredibly smart and hardworking population to solve some of those problems.

This is not just to help their national economy, but also to establish themselves as leaders in the international economy. In my opinion, many people don’t think of China as a creative force on the international sphere, or business sphere. There are some exceptions, such as Alibaba, Jingdong, Baidu and Tencent. But from a big picture point of view, what the Chinese government is trying to do, and what the population is getting behind, is to incentivize the next generation of Chinese business, economic, scientific leaders in taking leadership positions on the global stage — not just the national stage.

Stephen Dupont: I thought what you said earlier was very interesting. You said: “We’re not going to be the generation making the world’s t-shirts.” So, is that partly why China is investing so heavily, for example, in Africa? Where just as in our country, for decades, we went to Asia to find cheap labor to make our stuff, now China, which has reached economic parity with the U.S., is searching out developing countries that can make its t-shirts?

Zak Dychtwald: That’s part of it, but it’s not just Africa. I think the main reason that China is investing in Africa is that the rest of the world has not or will not. (Note: See this article from Forbes for further insight about China’s investments in Africa). For example, when Trump came to power, he ordered the retraction of a good amount of aid that the United States is putting into Africa.

But even before that, people weren’t really trying to help Africa. Yes, sure, they built roads from the rubber plantation to the ports where it could be shipped out. But they weren’t really trying to build the infrastructure of Nairobi, for example, which is what China is doing. China is creating real deals in Africa that Africa needs. At the same time, what’s developing out of these economic dependencies has a lot of the world sort of crying neocolonialism. I think that’s BS, but – China is looking at places that need help, that are third-world and developing, and providing that sort of economic assistance and economic reliability that a big buyer can bring to any smaller country, smaller economy.

Other countries are starting to understand what China is doing. The Belt and Road Initiative is a good example of this. China is creating a web of dependencies, a hub-and-spoke model of dependencies, if you will. Where it’s the hub and there are 70 spokes — 70 countries whose economies will be linked into China’s.

One Belt, One Road, Chinese strategic investment in the future.

This is not just supply chain stuff, and it’s not just energy security for China (there’s a lot of energy-rich nations that China is pulling into this), and not just food security. With a hub-and-spoke model involving 70 countries, if any of those spokes breaks (economic or political relationships falter), the wheel keeps turning. But if the hub is removed, the wheel crumbles. So, China is putting itself at the center of an economic web of dependencies that also has massive political implications. It’s not just locking up the supply chain so that they can still be a part of the semiconductor trade, or even the shirt business when a lot of that goes to Vietnam and Bangladesh, but it’s also so that they can play an integral part in the world that will find it increasingly difficult to operate without them. That’s what they’re doing right now.

Stephen Dupont: Going back to the chess and checkers, it also means that the United States is really not part of that economic web, right?

Zak Dychtwald: This is the hard part about Belt and Road Initiative — and India, by the way, is freaking out about it, too, because their really not part of that web, either — for the United States, China is investing heavily in the smaller countries around it, recognizing that a critical mass, more than just any one thing or any one place, is likely going to give them the security they need.

China shares borders with 12 countries. I think we forget about this. Back to our nuclear conversation: you’ve got Russia to the north, and you’ve got sort of a crazy person in your backyard with North Korea. We imagine that China’s pulling the strings on North Korea, but, I mean, there is no one more afraid of a totally nuclear North Korea than China.

It’s incomparable to the fear we might feel in the U.S. You have India and Pakistan, who have nuclear programs and have had their own historic skirmishes, and China has had skirmishes with both.

So basically, from a Chinese viewpoint, you kind of feel surrounded by many unfriendly faces. The best way to ensure long-term peace is to sort of graft these countries to you. And so, no, that doesn’t include the United States, particularly as we’ve shrunken away from the region in recent years.

Stephen Dupont: How do young Chinese consumers look at brands? So much of our world revolves around consumer spending, and I wanted to ask you, are they developing their own consumer brands? Do they love American consumer brands like Starbucks, for example? And do you see a day when Americans will want consumer brands from China?

Zak Dychtwald: They like American brands. Starbucks is a great example. Apple, too. Apple sells more phones in China, despite having far less market share than in the United States. Young Chinese love our movies and our fashion. And there’s a tremendous want for those from within China. As the sheer volume of desire in China and economic capacity continues to rise, the desire for U.S. brands keeps growing. (Note: Read this article from Forbes about the most relevant brands to young Chinese consumers.)

Chinese Millennials are not buying the gaudy, loud brands, such as the huge Gucci belt or the leopard-print Lamborghini. Among the older generation, this trend that I call “face over function” is important. It’s the idea that something, such as a fancy car, gives you face — allowing you to socially posture – and is more important than what the product actually did.

Instead, Chinese Millennials are looking to belong to something and also individuate at the same time. What the heck does that mean? Let me first give you some context: there’s nothing more alienating than being a young person alone in a Chinese city. Ten million people moving all around you, cramming onto the subway, going to work, all trying to find their own place in that world. There’s nothing more isolating than that, honestly.

Now, add to that the perspective that most of China’s young people are single children. There’s a real want to belong to something. So, it’s a conflicting feeling: it’s wanting to be your own person but also wanting to belong to something. So, in China, young people are seeing brands as a way to form their own tribes.

To me, it’s reminiscent of the Ralph Lauren era in the ’60s — this idea that there is this refined brand, and if you wear that brand, you belong to something. Or, what you might see now with those who wear Nike. To young Chinese, wearing these brands is signaling to others that they live a certain lifestyle. These brands help young Chinese connect by making bigger statements, such as: “I’m the kind of person who owns an iPhone. What does that say about me? I’m urban. I’m educated. I have a certain type of job. I want a certain type of lifestyle.”

For the young Chinese person who wears Nike, they’re saying: “I’m a Nike person. I only wear Nike stuff. I run. I’m healthy. I’m dedicated to living a type of lifestyle that’s offbeat, that’s committed to health and fitness.”

By the way, the idea of going to run outside is totally new in China. Everyone thought you were a crazy person 15 years ago if you ran. But Nike has built a whole culture around it in China. If you look at the number of people who signed up for the 2008 Shanghai Marathon, there were maybe 50 people at the starting line. This year, there will be 30,000 people. What Nike did was build a community around it, and now everyone and their mother is lacing up for these long runs – it really is a massive shift.

Look at Supreme. It’s a skateboard, hip-hop brand from New York that has become really popular among young Chinese. Why’s that? Well, it’s because there’s a Chinese show called The Rap of China that was averaging 200 million views per episode. It’s not like Jay-Z and Kanye came and made this popular. No. It was Chinese rappers who are creating their own art with their own lyrics, whose narratives are speaking to the Chinese people rather than to people in inner-city United States, or rural United States, or wherever. While they were speaking to young Chinese people, they were wearing Supreme skateboard apparel because that’s something they identified with. So now, it seems every kid in China identifies with Supreme.

So it’s like a mixture of Chinese style and Chinese sensibility with a touch of foreign influence.

Stephen Dupont: What’s been the impact of the single-child rule in China. Isn’t there a significant gap between the number of males and females in China? What impact do you think that will have in the years to come?

Zak Dychtwald: Yes, there is. It’s a huge gap. There are roughly more than 30 million males than females in China.

Here’s the thing, though. China is still very traditional in the way that it dates. So it’s likely that these men are likely the poorest and the least educated in the country, and that has some leaders in China worried. There’s a parallel to what we’re seeing in the United States with our shooting issue: there is no more destabilizing force than single men who feel like they deserve to have a woman in their lives.

So China is tracking this. Some people are saying these men would make for good military fodder. But, if China is moving towards autonomous technology, maybe that’s not the solution.

An interesting solution to this problem came up during a recent conference call that I participated in. In China, you have this massive number of people who are entering old age, and China has the tradition of a barefoot doctor — a man who doesn’t have a formal medical background, but knows how to treat patients in rural and semi-rural places.

The suggestion has been made that maybe these young men who are having trouble creating families because there are too few women could become caretakers for this older generation, or possibly the government will incentivize them to become caretakers for the elderly throughout the country. When I heard this, I thought that was a pretty cool solution. I had never heard that before. But, you know, thinking from a futurist mindset, what do you with 30 million unmarried men who feel like they deserve a woman in their lives, and if they don’t get that, may lash out at society? Well, maybe you employ them, give them a great job, and give them a community along the way. That, to me, is a pretty far-out solution to what is one of the major problems facing China over the next several decades.

Stephen Dupont: So, if you could give just three pieces of advice to American business people in how to approach China over the next 20 years, what would you suggest?

Zak Dychtwald: Three pieces of advice…well…I’d like to offer three pieces of cautionary advice.

First, don’t expect modernization of China to mean Westernization.

Second, recognize that China has a totally unique culture, identity, and way of looking at the world, and they’re proud of that.

And third, to build on that, what makes China really unique is that it’s culture and identity drive its economics and politics.

They’re all linked up to this idea of culture and identity, but it really is all underpinned by the importance of caring about the people, of understanding the narrative, understanding the culture, and recognizing that all of these creates a unique sort of economic, political, and business outcomes different than anywhere else in the world.

Stephen Dupont: For those who want to learn more about China, what would you recommend in terms of reading, documentaries, etc. – besides your book, Young China, which I would highly recommend?

Stephen Dupont: If you only had 10 days to travel throughout China and get a sense of the new generation that is rising there, where would you go?

Zak Dychtwald: For a ten-day trip, I would do a quick stop in Shanghai, a bullet train to Beijing, and then a flight out to Chongqing. These three cities will give you a pretty cool view of China if it is your first time. If you’d like to get out in nature a bit more, go to Yunnan Province and Guilin.

Zak Dychtwald.

Stephen Dupont: My final question: Would you recommend to American parents that instead of having their kids learn Spanish they should be learning Mandarin Chinese?

Zak Dychtwald: Absolutely. Without a doubt. There is no generation, anywhere in the world that I believe will be as impactful as China’s Millennials and Generation Z. Period. I’d love to make that argument for American Millennials, and there’s an argument to be made there, but we’re talking about real parity.

Second, the greatest gift I’ve ever given myself is learning Chinese. From a pure intellectual point of view, it feels like I’ve built an entire different world in my brain — like I’ve doubled the size of my brain through my cultural immersion into Chinese. There’s different colors, landscapes, and features, and – just from the way that that can stimulate a young person’s brain and the way that they see the world is a true gift.

This is not to say Spanish isn’t great, or that the Spanish-speaking cultures that impact America are not wonderful. But, if you want to give your child a different view of the world, Mandarin is an incredible option.

Stephen Dupont: Zak, thank you for taking the time to talk with me and share your insights about young China.

Zak Dychtwald: You’re welcome.

Note from Stephen Dupont: Here are some additional resources to learn more about the economic growth of China:

]]>https://stephendupont.co/chinese-millennials/feed/01104https://stephendupont.co/chinese-millennials/What I Learned as a Summer Internhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StephenDupont/~3/duaXcFolAs0/
https://stephendupont.co/what-i-learned-as-a-summer-intern-at-pocket-hercules/#commentsFri, 24 Aug 2018 00:49:43 +0000https://stephendupont.co/?p=1085What I Learned as a Summer Intern By Juliet Dupont This summer, Juliet Dupont, a student studying journalism and strategic communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Class of ’21) worked as an intern at Pocket Hercules, where I serve as vice president of public relations and branded content. I invited Juliet to share what she […]

This summer, Juliet Dupont, a student studying journalism and strategic communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Class of ’21) worked as an intern at Pocket Hercules, where I serve as vice president of public relations and branded content. I invited Juliet to share what she learned over the past four months. By the way, over the summer, Juliet started her own website, julietdupont.com. Check it out.

When I started as an intern at Pocket Hercules, a Minneapolis-based public relations and advertising firm, I was given a list of tasks to complete over the course of the summer.

Juliet’s desk at the worldwide headquarters of Pocket Hercules in downtown Minneapolis.

Many of these tasks were intended to round out my internship experience and give me the full picture of what it’s like to work in a creative firm. Other tasks sought to catapult me out of my comfort zone, one of which was to interview at least three communications professionals who worked for other organizations during my internship.

I reached out to six different individuals with backgrounds in communications, from a partner at a lobbying firm to a vice president at one of the largest public relations firms in the world. Some of these extraordinary individuals, but not all, are based in the Twin Cities area, and I met many them in person for coffee – discovering some of my new favorite cafes as I went along.

At each interview, I asked the same question: If you could sit down and talk to your 19-year-old self, what would you tell her or him?

The answers to this question were mixed, but all insightful. I took their answers to heart and carry them with me as I finish this internship and head back to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I’ve been accepted into the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. At the same time, however, I find myself coming back to that question. What would I tell myself if I could speak to the Juliet from three-and-a- half months ago?

On top of that, I wondered how different I would be. How much did I learn this summer, without realizing it? What would I want the next intern to know?

Juliet Dupont

So, I began making a list of the things I learned as an intern at Pocket Hercules:

If you don’t know, just ask.

Internships are learning experiences, and asking questions is key to making sure you get everything you can out of the experience. There’s truly no such thing as a stupid question, whether it concerns your career, your classes or a point of clarification on a project.

Asking questions and getting answers from smart, friendly people can send you on the right track right away, open doors you didn’t know existed and prevent mistakes that can be difficult to correct. Always ask if you aren’t quite sure.

Take another look at the things you already enjoy. When you’re doing something you’re passionate about, always ask yourself: Why do I like this? What’s pulling me in?

I enjoy reading Teen Vogue. I am thrilled to have found a publication with strong writers who understand that young women can be interested in government and social issues as well as style and pop culture. There is no “or,” in Teen Vogue ­– there is “and.”

Now, when I approach Teen Vogue from a public relations intern’s point-of-view, I can see that the rebranding of the digital magazine as a young woman’s hub for news, fashion and lifestyle advice was purposeful.

They wanted to increase readership with young women such as myself – undervalued and underestimated in America’s current political landscape – and they did exactly what they needed to do to accomplish that. It’s modern, insightful, empowering and brilliant, and I reached that understanding because I looked at something I enjoyed with a fresh pair of eyes and the willingness to learn.

Don’t go to the same place for lunch every day. There’s a whole city to explore, so branch out.

I took in the city of Minneapolis by going on an extended sandwich crawl. The best sandwich is a BLT from Moose and Sadie’s. The best cheap sandwich is from Potbelly in the IDS Center. The best vegetarian sandwich is from the Jimmy John’s across the street (#6 with no avocado. Add hot peppers, pickle and whole grain mustard).

Eating lunch at the world-famous Loon Cafe.

I even tried a brat at Kramarczuk’s, a Ukranian deli in Minneapolis’ Nordeast neighborhood.

A word of advice to the next intern: if you’re ordering in, say “yes” when your co-worker asks if you want a “hot dog taco.” It sounds weird, but it’ll change your life.

Your coworkers are sources of inspiration.

I’m so thankful to have worked in an office with and learned from passionate, friendly people who communicate dedication for their work and to their team without saying a word. Be as outgoing or as quiet as you like, but always remember to listen and find the motivation to improve for your team.

Thank you to Beth and Aaron for letting me into the office at 8:30 A.M., to Gavin and Matt for beer lunches and excellent questions (Gavin: I’ve added “Getting a tattoo” and “Driving to Alaska” to my bucket list.) and to the rest of the office for being so welcoming.

Giving a writing assignment back to Stephen Dupont to edit.

Thank you, most of all, to Stephen, for the notes, chats and Skyway directions. I consider myself lucky to have worked for you, and hope to find the same passion for meaningful communication and connection that you incorporate into every sentence you write.

I appreciate every opportunity this internship has given me, and look forward to taking on the future with each piece of wisdom and guidance I picked up along the way. A million thank you’s, again, to the Pocket Hercules team, and a million good lucks to the next summer intern.

]]>https://stephendupont.co/what-i-learned-as-a-summer-intern-at-pocket-hercules/feed/11085https://stephendupont.co/what-i-learned-as-a-summer-intern-at-pocket-hercules/Harness the Power of LinkedIn: Conversation with LinkedIn Expert and Author Wayne Breitbarthhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StephenDupont/~3/fU8dWpy4hvs/
https://stephendupont.co/harness-the-power-of-linkedin-wayne-breitbarth/#respondFri, 13 Jul 2018 02:02:15 +0000https://stephendupont.co/?p=1064Harness the Power of LinkedIn: Conversation with LinkedIn Expert and Author Wayne Breitbarth By Stephen Dupont, APR Whether you’ve been on LinkedIn for many years or you just created your LinkedIn profile, no doubt you have questions about how this particular social media platform works and how you could be using it more effectively. While […]

]]>Harness the Power of LinkedIn: Conversation with LinkedIn Expert and Author Wayne Breitbarth

By Stephen Dupont, APR

Whether you’ve been on LinkedIn for many years or you just created your LinkedIn profile, no doubt you have questions about how this particular social media platform works and how you could be using it more effectively.

While I’ve been on LinkedIn for 11 years, I too, have my questions, especially as it relates to connecting with others and building win-win business relationships.

During our hour-long conversation, I asked Wayne questions that I think are on the minds of many LinkedIn users, such as you. Questions about how to write a Profile that catches the interest of another person, such as a recruiter or potential client; how to respond to people looking at your profile, and how to use LinkedIn in connection with other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Wayne Breitbarth’s Introduction to LinkedIn

Stephen Dupont: Wayne, how did you begin your experience with LinkedIn?

Wayne Breitbarth: I really joined LinkedIn out of necessity. Back in 2007, my business partner and I owned a commercial furniture business in Milwaukee. As our country entered the recession, our furniture business was crashing. That’s when a friend of mine pushed me to try LinkedIn. I was about 50 years old at the time, and I pushed back. I didn’t want to get involved with social media. So there I was on a business trip for several days in Holland, Michigan, with some time on my hands. So I’m sitting in this hotel room with nothing to do, and I thought, “I’m tired of my friend bothering me about trying this stupid thing.”

So I clicked it open.

And in 15 minutes I said to myself, “Oh my gosh. He was so right. This is not a social media tool. This is – and it dawned on me – the largest database of business people ever assembled, where we can see who our friends know. And everyone is there because they actually want to network with one another. How good is that?”

Stephen Dupont: Are you still in the furniture business or have your book and your seminars about LinkedIn turned into a full-time business?

Wayne Breitbarth: Yeah, teaching others how to use LinkedIn has become a full-time business for me. I’ve been on LinkedIn for eleven years, and for the first six years I was still involved in the office furniture business, while I was building my expertise in selling and job hunting with LinkedIn.

Starting a Business Focused on Teaching LinkedIn

Stephen Dupont: How did that transition occur?

Wayne Breitbarth: I would credit the success of my transition to a couple of things. The book took me to national prominence, no question about it. So, that was important factor.

Wayne Breitbarth

Another thing that was important was that first year of teaching LinkedIn classes. I taught 105 classes, Stephen. For free, on top of my day job. This was before I wrote the book. I spoke to tons of people and I started to build a mailing list during that time, which was key to promoting the book when it came out.

I would say the third thing is that my timing was perfect because it was at a time when everybody was getting a profile on LinkedIn, but nobody knew what they were doing.

I just became one of those few guys that studied it enough that I knew what I was doing.

On top of that, my wife was supportive of me taking the leap from selling my portion of the furniture business – where we made a nice living – to launching a new business. I remember my wife looking at me one day and saying, “You know what? You’re having too much fun doing this, and if you want do this on your own, then let’s do it.”

Well, it wasn’t as bad because the last two years at the office furniture business, my partner and I had struck an arrangement where I would cut back my pay in exchange for more time to see if I could make a business that could support my family. So, I didn’t have to go off the cliff, you know.

So that was really helpful. I realized that we’re going to be fine. And I’d like to add that this all occurred when we still had kids under our roof and we’re paying for one who was in college.

Stephen Dupont: It sounds like having that business partner who was supportive of you also helped a lot, too, right?

Wayne Breitbarth: Yeah, it really was.

Stephen Dupont: What do you think helped the most in securing your reputation as a leading authority or expert?

Wayne Breitbarth: I think it was speaking. I spoke every chance I could. It not only allowed me torefine my ideas and answer real-life questions, but it allowed me to start building an email list, and a group of supporters who wanted to receive my weekly LinkedIn tips.

Stephen Dupont: Did you start speaking to groups such as Rotary Clubs and chambers of commerce?

Wayne Breitbarth: Oh yes. In that first year, I think at least half of my talks were rotary clubs. I’m glad you brought those up. By the end of that first year, I started offering my own paid workshops, and by

then I was starting to have people call me from all over the region to speak and give workshops – chambers of commerce, industry associations, etc. That’s when they started to call me, and that’s because invariably, someone at one of those first presentations saw me speak and recommended me to these other organizations to which they belonged.

By year three, I was not doing rotary clubs anymore. Not that I didn’t love those guys and care about them, but they were 20-minute free talks that I just had to take out of my schedule. Because by then, I had to get serious about monetizing this thing.

Personal Branding with LinkedIn

Stephen Dupont: How do you think someone should use LinkedIn in building their personal brand?

Wayne Breitbarth: LinkedIn is a really important component of branding yourself because it’s a source that’s free, and it’s online – and most people are online. I think the best strategy for most people in marketing themselves is to have a really, really solid profile with good experiential stories about who you are, where you’ve been, and what you’re capable of.

In addition, LinkedIn gives you the power to consistently connect with people that you think some day you could help or they could help you. So, it really boils down to this question: “What is your professional strategy, at least as you see it today?” Build a profile that supports that strategy and also build a network that supports that strategy.

Business Development with LinkedIn

Stephen Dupont: How do you think someone should use LinkedIn for business development, such as finding new clients? After all, that’s the way you started to use it – to find new customers to support your furniture business. I think a lot of people think that they can just start a profile of themselves or their business and the customers will just start coming out of the woodwork.

Wayne Breitbarth: When you use LinkedIn for business development, use the multiple search features on LinkedIn. You start by identifying your audience. So, for example, when I was in office furniture I was looking for facilities people – people in charge of buying furniture for their offices. Or, if I knewthat a company was moving to a new space — because I read about it in the newspaper or a friend told me – then I would look up who the president or CFO was on LinkedIn and begin the process of introducing myself and building a relationship with them.

Stephen Dupont: So, you say to yourself, “Who do I need to meet more of?”

Wayne Breitbarth: I’d start with a person’s title, the companies they are or have worked for, and the industries in which they participate. That kind of stuff. Then you start to search them out on LinkedIn, and try to connect with them. Once you connect, you try to turn that connection into a meeting, or a phone call, or whatever you do next as part of your sales process.

It’s not simply about adding connections. If there’s not a goal involved and a process to act on your connections, then all you’re using LinkedIn for is, like, to collect baseball cards.

Stephen Dupont: There are people who I think like to have as many connections as possible. They measure their success on LinkedIn by having thousands of connections…

Wayne Breitbarth: Well, I just completed a consultation a couple hours ago where I spoke to a CPA who had 1,300 connections. She said she wanted more, and more, and more. And I said, “Wait. Before you do more, and more, and more, what about these 1,300?”

I said, “When was the last time you went into your 1,300, sorted them, and filtered them by the kind of people you’re looking for? And then, you did something, either through email, phone call, or LinkedIn messaging to reach out to the right people out of the 1,300, and invite them to a webinar, or do an event with them. Something. Anything. Because remember, just because they’re in your network doesn’t mean you already sold to them. They may be a better prospect than the brand-new person you’re going to ask this afternoon. So I say, why not go to them first? It might be their day to finally switch accounting firms.

Stephen Dupont: So, it sounds like what you’re saying is that LinkedIn is a great way for people to get to know you and recognize you for your expertise, but ultimately, if you want to build a business (e.g., get customers), you need to take the next step and start engaging with those people in your LinkedIn network. In fact, it would be better to do that first than to add more people to your network that you’re not going to engage with. Right?

Wayne Breitbarth: Yes. You got it.

Job Hunting with LinkedIn

Stephen Dupont: How do you think a person should use LinkedIn more effectively for job hunting?

Wayne Breitbarth: For job hunting, and by this I mean that you’re actively searching for a new position, there’s one thing that you better make sure you do – use better keywords to optimize your profile along with your résumé.

Many talent recruiters are using software to scan digital résumé, or your LinkedIn profile to find out whether you have enough of the keywords that they’re seeking, or that you have the right keywords, to make their first cut.

And that is killing people. You could be the best person for a job, but if your resume or LinkedIn profile doesn’t cut it (have the right keywords or enough of the right keywords), you won’t be invited in the front door.

So, the first step is to better understand the keyword systems that are out there, and how LinkedIn and your résumé need to be optimized.

Second, I would use LinkedIn to search for people who work at the companies you’re interested in working for, and try to work your way into those organizations, even if there’s not a job posting. Because you know down the road – if there isn’t a job posting today, if you can make some friends, move into an organization virtually, using LinkedIn, then maybe your name will pop up in a meeting when they say, “Yeah, we better post that job.” Then they go, “Wait, I just talked to – I got a friend,” and boom, you’re in the door for an interview.

So, in order to link into the conversation – even if there isn’t a job posting – try to work your way into the conversation. How? Look for people who went to your high school or college who are currently working at the company you’d like to work with. Look for friends, family members, former co-workers, who work there now, or are linked to someone who works there, and ask for an introduction.

Keywords

Stephen Dupont: Let’s talk about keywords. Let’s say I’m looking for a job in marketing. I want to be a marketing vice president working for a company in the energy industry. So, are you literally putting into your headline next to your photo, your description and your job history words such as “marketing,” “vice president,” “energy,” etc.?

Wayne Breitbarth: Yes. Listen, you don’t even have to guess at this. Go to the job postings on LinkedIn or another job website and look at the keywords in those descriptions. Those are the keywords you need in your profile and resume. The software will find the best matches.

Here’s a tip: There is actually a tool about that. It’s a tool called JobScan.co. It allows you to paste in ajob posting, and then paste in a job résumé – or your LinkedIn profile – and push the word, “scan”, and it will tell you how good of a match you are, as well as what keywords you’re missing.

Networking with LinkedIn

Stephen Dupont: If you connect with somebody on LinkedIn, would you call that networking (in other words, the people who’ve accepted your invites are your network)? Or do you think LinkedIn is a tool (among others) with which you use to network?

Wayne Breitbarth: I see LinkedIn as a form of networking. Do I think that it supports traditional networking, as you say? Yes.

Part of this depends on where your customers are. Do they expect to meet with you face-to-face? Do they expect to meet you before they sign on the dotted line? There are some customers where that’s not important. So I think it could be either.

Stephen Dupont: But certainly, maybe, in combination, it would be much more powerful?

Wayne Breitbarth: Oh, for sure. I think face-to-face meetings and phone calls are typically considered homeruns. But these days, we’re not far from the days when normal business transactions take place without a meeting or a phone call. I mean, I’m 61, so I didn’t grow up on that. Then you have to look at the generations coming up. To a Millennial, when you say, “face-to-face,” they might say, “Skype-to-Skype,” right?

Advanced People Search

Stephen Dupont: In your experience in working with people who attend your workshops and seminars, what is one of the most overlooked features of LinkedIn?

Wayne Breitbarth: I would say, the ability to do what I call an “Advanced People Search.” So, look for the Search bar on the top of your LinkedIn page. Most people only use it for typing the name of a person they’re looking for. Most don’t understand that if you put your cursor in that box, a menupops down, and it says, “search for” and your first choice is “People.” You click “People”, and then youclick on the next page, “all filters”, you’ve got 13 filters to take 580 million people on LinkedIn down to the exact 15 people you’re looking for.

Because it’s hard to find, most people have not discovered this feature. It’s not their fault – LinkedIn doesn’t make it easy to find. Here’s the thing – you can do this search for free, Stephen. You don’t need a premium account to do this.

Stephen Dupont: I’m assuming that that’s a feature that a lot of recruiters use to search for potential candidates, correct?

Wayne Breitbarth: Yes, that’s exactly right. Now, the recruiters have more filters than those 13 or 14 that you get for free. You know, they pay more for LinkedIn, and they get more filters. But, it’s the same idea. Taking the list from 580 million and getting it down to the right six, or ten, or 12, or 25?

Who’s Viewed Your Profile

Stephen Dupont: With the feature, “Who’s Viewed Your Profile,” have those people actually looked at your profile? And what should you do if someone has looked at your profile, such as someone who might be a potential client, or someone who works at a company that you might like to work for? What should you do next to connect?

Wayne Breitbarth: So, the answer to your first question is yes, they actually did look at your profile. How long, we don’t know. Maybe only for seconds.

Second, if they are interesting to you, you should reach out, and send a connection request. Or, if you’re already connected, send a message. By the way, Who’s Viewed Your Profile is the number one-rated feature on LinkedIn.

I do a survey every year of the people on my email list, and I ask questions such as: “How many connections do you have? How many groups do you have?” And one of the questions is, “What’s your favorite feature?” That is the number one rated feature for the last four years.

Stephen Dupont: How should someone better use that feature?

Wayne Breitbarth: Here’s the way I like to teach someone how to use that feature. Assume that your profile is like a storefront in a strip mall. If someone walks into your store and looks like a buyer are you going ignore them? No way. Because if you ignore them, they could walk right next door into the LinkedIn pages of others who do whatever you do (accounting, lawyering, public relations, advertising, insurance, etc.).

Next thing you know that “Hi” turns into a client.

Stephen Dupont:But some people might think, “Well, that’s kind of creepy that they noticed that I was looking at your profile and actually reached out.”

Wayne Breitbarth: I know. That’s the funny part! So, what happens when you send a request to connect, and they never get back to you? What does that mean?

Wayne Breitbath

Well, it means that they didn’t want to connect. I don’t know why. But I do believe that while they’re there visiting your profile, why not try?

It’s just like in a store. The sales person goes up to the customer and says “hi” and asks, “Do you have any questions?” or “Can I help you with anything?”

Customizing Invites

Stephen Dupont: How do you think you should send a more personal message that might turn into a relationship? Do you write something such as, “Hey, I see that we know some of the same people,” or, “I see you work at a company that I’ve always wanted to work for,” instead of just hitting the generic Connect button?

Wayne Breitbarth: You should always customize your invitation.

Stephen Dupont: Is there any line or anything like that, that you’ve noticed tends to work better than, “Hey, let’s connect”?

Wayne Breitbarth: I have three recommended templates that you can use to respond. Remember, you only have 300 characters when you send a message as part of your invitation. I’d recommend customizing one of these three templates:

1.) Jim Smith, a client for over 15 years, suggested that we connect. He thought you might be interested in having a chat about how we could help your organization. If that’s the case, let me know. In the meantime, I would be honored to have you join my network.

2.) Jim Smith, a member of my LinkedIn network, suggested that we connect. He thought you might be interested in having a chat about how we could help your organization. If that’s the case, let me know. In the meantime, I would be honored to have you join my network.

3.) I noticed from your profile that you attended Marquette [or are a member of a group, used to work at a particular company, etc.]. Based on your job responsibilities, I thought you might be interested in having a chat about voluntary benefits for your employees. If that’s the case, let me know. In the meantime, I would be honored to have you join my network.

I always close all three of those with this line, “In the meantime, I’d be honored to have you join my LinkedIn network.” I call that the phrase that pays.

Now before that, you might want to use something such as: “Hi, Bob Jones suggested we connect,” or, “I see you went to Marquette,” or, “I see you looked at my profile. I looked at yours. I think there might be ways we could collaborate.” So, that’s all in the beginning part of the 300 characters, but you always close with, “In the meantime, I’d be honored to have you join my LinkedIn network.”

My Network Feature

Stephen Dupont: Under the feature, My Network, I noticed that there’s a box that shows invitations. Sometimes I’ve noticed that people have sent me invitations to connect, but I’ve noticed that they have not actually looked at my profile. So, are these really people I want to connect with?

Wayne Breitbarth: Well, they may not have looked at your profile today. But they may have in the past. Or, they may have looked at your profile using the Anonymous feature.

I think it still boils down to this: you should connect with people whom, after looking at their profile, you think you can help each other.

Linking with Competitors

Stephen Dupont: What about invitations from competitors?

Wayne Breitbarth: That’s an important question that everyone needs to think through carefully.

Understand what it is you’re giving your competitor. You’re giving them access to your potential customers. Which means that it could be the worst strategy in the world for you. On the other hand, it might be a great strategy, because it could allow you to support each other and possibly collaborate.

So you need to ask a few more questions about who’s in your network, what your settings are, what that person looks like versus what you do. That’s why it’s not a real quick answer, but I can tell you, it can be the best strategy, or it can be the worst strategy.

L.I.O.N.s

Stephen Dupont: There are people on LinkedIn who identify as L.I.O.N.s (LinkedIn Open Networkers). For those reading this article, L.I.O.N.s are open to networking with everyone on LinkedIn. What do you think about becoming a L.I.O.N.?

Wayne Breitbarth: Go back to your strategy for using LinkedIn. Here’s a good example. Let’s say you’re a job seeker, and you’re an engineer, and many recruiters are L.I.O.N.s. One day, out of the blue, you get a request from an engineering head-hunter that looks like he or she is spot on, in your space. It looks like they have a good reputation (based on their profile and the connections you have in common), but they’re a L.I.O.N. Well, that’s an easy one. L.I.O.N.s typically have big networks, typically of the kind of people you’re interested in having more of, so I would connect in a minute.

Ask yourself these questions when deciding to connect with anyone: What is your strategy? Where do you think that the relationship could take you, or not take you? And then you can decide. It’s not a “yes” or “no”, L.I.O.N.s are bad or L.I.O.N.s good. It’s about how a specific L.I.O.N. fits into your strategy?

Email Lists

Stephen Dupont: You mentioned this earlier, about building an email list. So you have all of these connections through LinkedIn, many of which include an email under their Contact information. Is it okay to build an email list from your LinkedIn connections?

Wayne Breitbarth: The answer to that is, some of those people in your LinkedIn connection database should be on your company newsletter list, for sure. LinkedIn allows you to do a download into a spreadsheet of all of your first-level connections – including a connection’s primary email address.

So, the capability is there.

Now, what you do depends on laws, rules, and your morals. Because if you do send an email to a LinkedIn connection, they didn’t necessarily opt into your newsletter. That being said, they may or may not want it.

Consider these steps:

Download your list and clean it up – remove people who probably won’t have any interest in your newsletter (such as those you connected with because you went to college with them, or church friends, or whatever).

When you send out a bulk email through MailChimp, and say: “Thank you for being a LinkedIn connection. I just wanted to let you know that people similar to you populate my email list and love the kinds of things I share periodically, and the things I share are the following: da, da, da, da, da, da.”

And then say, “If you’d like to get this on an ongoing basis, click here to confirm, or click here to opt out,” or whatever you do next.

The bottom line is you’re using your LinkedIn data to at least get the ball rolling.

But then you have to be respectful of rules and laws, and your ethics, and what you think you have the permission to do to move forward. But I think it’s a tremendous strategy if done correctly.

LinkedIn Influencer

Stephen Dupont: I’ve seen a lot of people talk about becoming a LinkedIn influencer. What is that exactly and how do you become an influencer?

Wayne Breitbarth: So, there is a thing called, “The Official LinkedIn Influencer.” There are only about 500 of those people, and you and I are never going to be on that list. It’s people such as Barack Obama or Richard Branson. The reality is, out of 580 million people on LinkedIn, you’re not going to be one of those folks.

Now, that being said, we should be trying to influence the network that we’re already attached to.

So, we can become influencers in our own little network, and that’s a tremendous goal, and one that most of us should have as part of our LinkedIn strategy. To become a LinkedIn influencer in our world.

Stephen Dupont: So, do you achieve that by joining and participating in LinkedIn groups? By commenting on various posts that others in your field have posted? Publishing articles through LinkedIn Pulse?

Wayne Breitbarth: Yes, all of the above. Being an influencer is about sharing your knowledge. That could be through writing, videos, participating in discussion groups, or answering questions posted by users in their LinkedIn. This also extends to being professional with everybody that writes you back even though you’re super-duper busy. We all have knowledge. It’s a question of whether we’re getting it out of our head, into the minds of those we’d like to influence, and into the experiences of the people who are attached to us.

Free LinkedIn vs. Paid LinkedIn

Stephen Dupont: Many people ask, “What’s the difference between free LinkedIn, and one of the premium subscriptions? And, is it worth it to pay for a premium subscription?” What’s your take on that?

Wayne Breitbarth: So, my take is that, you typically need to pay for LinkedIn, when you need to pay forLinkedIn. What that means is, you shouldn’t just pay for LinkedIn because you think something’s going happen that’s not already happening on the free account. Paid LinkedIn gives you more of the stuff that you’re already having success with, and at a level higher than free LinkedIn.

So, for example, who views your profile? On free LinkedIn, as long as your settings are a certain way,you can see the last five people that looked at you. If that feature works for you – if that feature has turned into good relationships that lead to business – then you may want to get paid LinkedIn, because with paid LinkedIn, you get a full view of all of your visitors for the last 90 days. But, of course, only what they wanted to add in their settings. But you get to at least see the entry for every person for the last 90 days.

So, that’s the kind of thing LinkedIn does. They give you a taste of some feature, and if you don’t need it a lot, that’s probably fine. But if it’s a feature that works, such as using its search capabilities, you’re going run out of free searches every month.

So, for me, it’s going to be obvious when you should move to paid LinkedIn, because you’re going to become frustrated with some features because you want more. Well, that’s what your credit card is for.

Don’t sit and bang your head against the wall, and be mad at LinkedIn. For $60.00 a month you can get all you want of the stuff you need to build new relationships that lead to more business. Listen for $720.00 a year, to me, that’s a bargain.

Anonymous Feature

Stephen Dupont: Speaking of “Who’s Looked at Your Profile” feature, what happened with Anonymous views? I always found it frustrated to see that someone, using the Anonymous feature, was looking at my profile, but now I don’t really see that traffic to my profile.

Wayne Breitbarth: Yes. LinkedIn has quit showing us the anonymous users because we couldn’t do anything with them anyway. So, they’re just saving the data space on the page.

But the question that you need to consider with the Anonymous feature is this, Stephen, should you be using it more often than you are. I use the Anonymous feature at least twice a month. And it’s because I want to look at people who I respect, who are in my space, and I want to see what their profiles look like, and I don’t want them to know I was there. So, to me, the Anonymous feature is a great setting for a period of time where you’re gathering intelligence and you prefer that people didn’t know that you were there. And so, there is a purpose for it.

Now, that being said, if you’re using network to build relationships, I think you should avoid using it all the time because you want people to see you. That’s how we can begin the process of connecting and building relationships.

Posts from other LinkedIn Users

Stephen Dupont: Wayne, in our LinkedIn feeds, we see messages and updates from people in our network. Do we just see posts from those in our network, or is LinkedIn delivering us posts based on the key words in our bio? So, for example, because I’m in marketing and PR, am I more likely to see posts outside of my network for those topics, than say, maybe if I were a lawyer, or worked in another profession?

Wayne Breitbarth: So, the way it works is your feed should only have paid ads – anything that somebody paid to get in there – or things from your first degree connections. But people in second and third degree can get in there if your first degree liked, shared, or commented on that.

So, a third degree cannot just show up unless they’re waltzed in by a first-degree comment, share, or like.

Okay? But like you were just saying – the propensity to get information from your first-degree people who have previously liked, shared, or commented, or clicked on their stuff, will be much higher than those people who you have never looked at their stuff.

Customizing Your Feed

Stephen Dupont: If there was one thing you could do to improve LinkedIn, what would it be?

Wayne Breitbarth: I’d like to be able to customize my feed so I could just get posts from the 30, 40 or 100 people that I really want to follow. I’d love that. However, I understand that LinkedIn needs a way to pay for this stuff through the growth of its database (the number of users) and ads.

Now, for an additional fee, you can do something like that. If you use LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator feature (a premium feature), it will let you create separate feeds, and only stuff that shows up in your Sales Navigator feed is the information from people you have pegged as a lead, or all of the companies you have pegged as accounts.

Bring Back This Feature

Stephen Dupont: If there was one feature that LinkedIn has discontinued, and if you had the chance, to bring it back, what would that be?

Wayne Breitbarth: Well, there’s a lot of those! But, if I had to choose just one, there was a feature called Amazon Booklist, which I really miss. That tool allowed you to keep a list of books that you read with mini-reviews. This list would be available for others to see. That tool helped me get a good chunk of my recommendations that sit on Amazon.com for my book. With that feature, I could put the title of my book in there, and it would show me every person in the world that had my book sitting in their Amazon Booklist on their LinkedIn profile. I would then send a message through my LinkedIn account thanking them for doing that and asking them if they would be so kind as to take their recommendation for my book at LinkedIn and put it on Amazon.com.

LinkedIn Social Selling Index

Stephen Dupont: For the average person who is getting into LinkedIn – they’re trying to use it; trying to figure it out – how do you know if you’re being effective with it? With Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, people often measure success by the number of followers or Likes. What about with LinkedIn?

Wayne Breitbarth: So, you’re right. Is it about the numbers or something more, such as the number of new customers you’ve generated through LinkedIn, or landing a better job?

It’s hard to say. For example, maybe you connected with someone through LinkedIn three years ago, but it was one of several factors that brought you together and now that person is your client.

From a sales standpoint, there is an interesting tool that I recommend checking out. It’s called the LinkedIn Social Selling Index. If you Google that – LinkedIn Social Selling Index. You’ll see a small box on the home page that says, “Get your score free.”

It will show you your score between zero and 100, and then it breaks your score down into four different categories, each assigned 25 points. It will also show you how you rank against the industry you’re in, your own network, and show you how you can improve your score.

The research that I’ve seen says that if you follow their advice, it will lead to more sales.

It’s pretty cool. It reminds me of another feature that LinkedIn used to offer where you could see if your profile was trending within a peer group of other users in a specific industry, such as public relations or marketing.

Profile Searches

Stephen Dupont: What about the Profile Searches feature – where you can see how many searches that your profile has appeared in?

Wayne Breitbarth: That’s another feature you should pay attention to. When you click on Profile Searches, it will show you the titles and the companies of people who have searched for you specifically, or for people based on key words. When you see that, scroll down and look for the list of the words are being used for those searches. You will see matches between what they’re searching for and the key words in your profile. But, I will tell you, of the five keywords that you see, the fifth word on that list is usually suspect. The other four seem to be good information, then that fifth one seems to be a word that you might not even have on your profile, and you’ll wonder, “What the heck?”

Stephen Dupont: Why is that? What do you mean by that?

Wayne Breitbarth: For example, right now my fifth word is Google. I do not have the word Google on my profile. Nowhere.

I had consulted with one of my clients this morning and when I looked at his fifth word, it was the word “unemployed.” He said, “I don’t have that – I don’t have that on my profile. Why would that show up?”

So, it’s a little bit suspect, but I think the information in general is good to have. The thing that’s most frustrating about LinkedIn, really, is they have so much data on us, but they’re not willing to share it.

New Features

Stephen Dupont: Well, I suppose that they’ll create new free and paid features with all that data that keep you hooked on the platform…

Wayne Breitbarth: So, like, there’s a feature in Sales Navigator. You’ll like this. Once you put people into your Leads List in Sales Navigator, you will get a ping from LinkedIn if anybody on your Leads List looks at your profile. That’s pretty cool.

So, that – that feature exists. Now, you have pay at least $80.00 a month to get it, in Sales Navigator.

It’s just what you just said – if they come up with a product, then maybe they’ll show that to us.

Career Settings Feature

Stephen Dupont: Even if you’re not actively looking for a job, do you think you should change your profile to let recruiters know that you are open to opportunities? So, my question is, so what if you do this and the HR person from your own company sees that? Could that be a little bit awkward?

Wayne Breitbarth: It isn’t, “Could it be?” It will be. There’s a button in the job section, under Career Settings that you toggle off and on.

LinkedIn warns you right away. “We can’t control people at your company knowing you just pushed this thing to ‘on’.” If it’s a risk you’re willing to take, go for it.

Photos on LinkedIn Profile

Stephen Dupont: Wayne, how important is it to have a headshot and background photo in your profile?

Wayne Breitbarth: Well, based on the latest research from LinkedIn, your profile will be viewed 20 times more often if it has a profile photo. So, I think that says it all.

Stephen Dupont: Well, what about those who might be a little bit worried about ageism in the workplace?

Wayne Breitbarth: Well, here’s what I think about that. Sooner or later, you’re going to be 60. In other words, you’re going to have an interview and the people interviewing you are going to figure it out. So, if the other party has a discrimination mind-set to them, then why not flush that out early, and don’t waste each other’s time? It’s illegal, but you know it goes on, so I say, flush it out as quickly as possible. If an organization doesn’t want to work with or hire 61-year-olds, I’d rather know that right now so I’m not wasting anymore of my time with that organization.

Headline Feature

Stephen Dupont: How important is that first line – the headline – that identifies who a person is on LinkedIn? And how should you best use it? Should you put your title there? Or should you put something like, “I’m an expert in accounting.” Or should you focus or talk about an industry? I mean, is that first line where the key words matter the most?

Wayne Breitbarth: The headline is one of the three hot spots for keywords. It’s also one of the best spots for really telling your quick story. So, you need to juggle key words versus story sometimes. And you just have to figure out to use that chunk most efficiently.

Using LinkedIn with Other Social Media

Stephen Dupont: How do you recommend using LinkedIn with other social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram?

Wayne Breitbarth: I think you should use other social media along with LinkedIn because I think they all work well together. For example, we can write an article on LinkedIn, and use that link from the article and promote it with a Facebook post to come over to LinkedIn and read the article.

As long as you understand the audiences on the platforms, and what your objective is, that interrelationship can work great. Another example: I use Instagram, and I use it almost exclusively to take somebody somewhere else, to a space (my website, my LinkedIn page) where I have a lot more information about what I’m trying to do.

The same for Facebook. I don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook, but I use Facebook as a place to bring people to a different spot. So yes, working all of these social media tools should definitely be part of your strategy.

LinkedIn Pulse Articles Feature

Stephen Dupont: You brought up the LinkedIn articles. How effective are those articles, especially when it comes to building one’s expertise or credibility?

Wayne Breitbarth: They can be. But, if you only have an audience of 150 people it might not be the best tool in the world. If you have an audience of 1,500, it’s ten times better. Regardless, I love that feature because it’s free and available for all LinkedIn users. And for those who become serious about using LinkedIn for business development or career building, it absolutely should be a part of your strategy.

High School and College Students

Stephen Dupont: What advice would you give younger people – those in high school or college – about using LinkedIn? Some say: “Well, I don’t really have a great résumé yet. So, I don’t know if I should be on there,” or, “I haven’t done anything real yet,” or “I’m not really a professional, so I really shouldn’t be in there.” How do you recommend high school and college students use LinkedIn?

Wayne Breitbarth: The minimum age that a person can be to start a LinkedIn account is 14 years old. High school students should build up a profile, and then you should start connecting with people that you know and will want to stay in contact with over the course of your career, regardless of whether you go to college or not.

For those who go onto college, you need to take the time to really get to know how to use LinkedIn to help you start finding internships and eventually a full-time job after college. Remember, the people who are doing the hiring will be looking at your LinkedIn page before you come in for an interview, and very often, they’re using LinkedIn to scout potential job candidates.

So, here’s my advice for college students: By the time you reach your sophomore year when most students are starting to compete for internships, you should work hard on writing your profile. And, your should be actively networking – connecting with other students, professors, friends of your parents and other relatives, alumni, and professionals in the industry that you want to pursue (such as when a professional comes to campus to speak).

At some point you need to approach LinkedIn as “something I’m learning how to use” to starting to actually using it as a tool of building your personal brand and getting internship experiences. By your senior year, you ought to have several hundred people in your network, and you ought to have a profile that’s keyword-optimized.

Future Direction of LinkedIn

Stephen Dupont: Do you have any concerns about the direction that LinkedIn is taking? For example, that people are trying to use it like Facebook?

Wayne Breitbarth: Well, I don’t worry too much or think too much about that, because LinkedIn has its own objective. And I hope it’ll coincide with us business professionals as they move forward, even when we’re not looking for work.

LinkedIn can decide to take the platform a different way, so that it may not serve our purposes. Or they could decide to enhance the businesses of LinkedIn, better than they ever have now that Microsoft owns LinkedIn.

So, as much as I can get wrapped up in this little thing and that little thing, I still go back to this: as long as LinkedIn is the largest database of business professionals that we can access – and most of us can access it for free – it’s going to be one heck of a tool regardless of these little things that they do, and tweak, and change, and all that.

For one thing, there’s a lot of artificial intelligence in the background of this platform to keep it from looking like Facebook. For instance, you used to see a lot more puzzles, and silly little game things, and those don’t show up as much. They’ve found a way to keep those games and puzzles out of our feed, and keep your feed focused on business.

So, I think that we shouldn’t get too hung up on the little things that are taking place. Instead, we should be asking a bigger question, which is: “Wow. Could my business survive without LinkedIn?”

You just have to step back and try to not get caught so much in the weeds. Because we can get caught in the weeds. But I try to step back and I usually find myself saying, “But this is still one heck of a database.”

Stephen Dupont: Wayne, for those who would like to learn more about you, your book and your online courses, where should they go to get more information?

By Stephen Dupont, APR

“All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.” – Bob Burg, author, Endless Referrals

I think I picked up Bob Burg’s influential book, Endless Referrals, about five years ago after interviewing speaker and sales consultant, Kevin Knebl, co-author of The Social Media Sales Revolution, for an article I wrote on how to use LinkedIn more effectively. Kevin pointed me to Bob’s unique concept about networking and building a business through referrals: “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people whom they know, like, and trust.”

I was immediately captivated by his thinking, and eagerly gobbled up his next book, the Go-Giver, which spoke to the power of this concept: “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.” Co-authored with John David Mann, the Go-Giver series of books have sold more than 800,000 copies and have been listed on numerous bestseller lists.

If you haven’t heard of Bob Burg, he is a highly regarded sales and business consultant who has spoken to many of the nation’s top companies, franchises and business associations. To learn more about Bob, I invite you to check out his website, burg.com, and to listen to his podcast, The Go-Giver Podcast, which features interviews with business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Recently, I reached out to Bob to see if I could interview him for my blog, stephendupont.co. I’ve always wanted to speak to Bob about his concepts of doing business in our digital age, and he gladly accepted.

In this interview, I ask Bob to share insights about the key sales and business concepts that he has developed, as well as to comment on a number of questions that I have been pondering, such as doing business in a time when so many people would rather communicate through social media and emails, or understanding what value humans will offer in the years to come when increasing amounts of our work is automated with artificial intelligence.

Stephen Dupont: Bob, your new book, The Go-Giver Influencer, co-written with John David Mann, was recently published, and it’s the fourth book in this very successful series. How does it expand on the Go-Giver book series and why do we need this book now?

Bob Burg: Influence has always been a part of the Go-Giver book series.

In the first book, we spoke about the Law of Influence, and in our next book, the Go-Giver Leader, we explored influence and leadership. And of course, the two are inextricably related.

We decided in this book that we wanted to take the concept of influence and drive deeper into it.

The Go-Giver Way

We really believe that at this stage in our nation’s history, we really need people who can learn how to influence, and influence in the correct way.

You know, we’re seeing a real breakdown in communications and civil discourse – between family members, among friends, among co-workers, in our media, among our nation’s politicians, and among the tens of millions on social media.

The result is that minds are not changing. If anything, they’re remaining even more stuck in the echo chambers of their closely held beliefs.

Friends are becoming enemies. Discourse has all but shut down. Understanding and acceptance is not being reached. And people are feeling lousy about it. I think if you were to ask the question of most people, “Would you like to see people communicate more civilly?” they’d say, “yes.”

But, aside from just communicating more civilly, we need to be better equipped to communicate more persuasively and influentially to help others better understand and accept our ideas.

Stephen Dupont:What do you think is the influence of social media and other technology on this process of building dialogue with others?

Bob Burg: The idea of social media is great, in that it opens up new worlds. It democratizes communications, allowing anyone to communicate their viewpoint. But, on the other hand, because anyone can communicate their viewpoint, anyone does. Often times, those with the loudest voices, spewing vitriolic insults tend to know the least about what they’re talking about. I think that’s a universal law of life (and I suspect that it’s always been that way), but with social media, there’s a platform that allows so many more people can do that.

The opportunities that social media offers are immense — to connect with one another, to communicate with one another, to grow from each other, and to learn with one another.

But, it also creates the opportunity for people to do lousy things, too. What we’ve seen is that as it becomes more acceptable to take a side or to argue for a team, it’s becoming more difficult to arrive at the truth. More and more, we’re seeing that if “you don’t agree with me,” people are going beyond saying, “you’re wrong” to saying “you’re evil.”

By and large 97% of the people want good things to happen. But what happens when we see people defending their team (such as a political party with whom they’ve associated), it’s not the truth they’re defending, but their team. I don’t think that’s helpful for the individual or for their team. And I don’t think it helps society, either.

Social media can accelerate this, but it isn’t to blame for it. After all, it’s just a tool. What I think we need to do is start expecting more of each other, and of ourselves. That’s where the responsibility lies.

Stephen Dupont: In a recent Go-Giverpodcast, you interviewed leadership motivational speaker Bill Wooditch. One thing that struck me about that conversation was the need to understand one another, and to seek to be understood. Many people want to create win-win relationships with each other. How important is it to do our homework in learning about each other, and listening carefully to one another to understand?

Bob Burg: A big part of that, and you mentioned “seek to be understood,” comes from Dr. Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, who said: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

I think that is very correct. That is the order in which we need to do it. Similarly, in the Go-Giver books, we say, “You provide value before you receive the income” or “you sow seeds before you reap.”

It’s the same with listening, understanding and communicating.

One of the things we say in our book, The Go-Giver Influencer, is “put yourself in other person’s shoes.” Now I know that sounds easy and maybe even trite because it’s a saying we’ve heard for years. But here’s the thing: It’s not necessarily easy to step into another person’s shoes realizing that most of us have different size feet.

In other words, we all come to the world from different belief systems and different perspectives. We have our own subjective truths and our own paradigms. We don’t necessarily know what another person is thinking, but as human beings, we generally think that people see the world in the same we do. But that simply isn’t true.

So, the only way we can really place ourselves in another person’s shoes is by asking questions, and then, listening. In our latest Go-Giver book, the character Coach tells his protégé, “Listen not just with your ears – because that’s surface listening. It’s how most of us listen, because that’s listening so we can talk (get our point of view across). Instead, the Coach says: listen with your eyes, listen with your posture, and listen with the back of your neck. In other words, listen with your entire being; your entire essence.

The reality is that’s really difficult for most of us. But when we do listen with our entire being to another person, it’s amazing what happens. It allows us to really understand another person.

Listen, sales is simply the process of discovering what another person needs, wants or desires. The only way you’re going to discover that – because you can’t read their mind – is to ask questions and listen intently.

The other thing when you do that is the other person feels listened to. They feel understood. That’s a very basic human need. And when that happens, a person starts to trust the other person.

Stephen Dupont: From the many informational interviews and coffees that I’ve done over the years, I’ve seen a lot of people struggling with the concept of success and purpose. They want to be successful (and they may already be successful, based on how our culture defines it), but they also want to feel like what they’re doing matters.

How do the principles (the Laws of Stratospheric Success as you call them in the Go-Giver books) apply to helping a person understand their purpose (or Knowing your Why?) and knowing what to do with their lives and doing what matters?

Bob Burg: I think when it comes to finding our why, it’s a constant process for most people. Yes, you hear those stories about people who know exactly what they wanted to do from a young age, but I think those stories are not typical.

I think we find our ourselves, and our why, along the way. It tends to be a combination of what you’re naturally good at, and what you enjoy doing or what you’re passionate about. It seems to me that that’s how we were created. I think we’re all naturally inclined to different things. Some people are naturally gifted when it comes to athletics; others toward other things such as math, communications, or leadership.

It tends to be that what we’re gifted at, we’re also good at. That’s not all the time. But it happens a lot. So I think you need to look at the nexus of what your natural talent is and what you enjoy doing. When that’s the case, you’re much more likely to work at it. Keep this in mind: even a natural athlete has to put a ton of effort into what they need to do.

If you’ve read Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, which introduced us to the concept of the “10,000 hour rule” (originated by Professor Anders Ericsson), we learn that you don’t become a master or an expert by simply putting in 10,000 hours of practice. It’s actually, 10,000 hours of deliberate, intentional practice. That’s quite a bit different.

What that says is to really master something, you need to put in a lot of time and a lot of deliberate effort. But to do that, I think, you have to enjoy it.

Now, to make a living out of it — to take something that you love and make a living at it — you need to take it one more step. There’s an old saying, like many old sayings, which is half-true. It’s: “Follow your passion or follow your bliss and the money will come.”

It’s only half true because you have to find a market – someone who is willing to pay you for what you offer. You need to communicate sufficient value for what you do and what you love. Because if you’re unable to do that, what you wind up with is a hobby.

There’s nothing wrong with hobbies, but if you want to make a living from what you love to do you need to connect it with what the market needs and wants.

Stephen Dupont: One of my takeaways from your recent Go-Giver podcast interview with Alex Banayan, author of the new book, The Third Door, is that so many people, when they think of success, look up. We look up to Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Quincy Jones, Lady Gaga, as the pinnacles of success.

And yet, we forget or overlook that there is incredible wisdom to be gained about living a rich and fulfilling life from those around us – from our parents, our friends, from people who may not be as successful as those famous people I mentioned. Could you comment on this – about not overlooking the wisdom and abundance that may already be in front of us?

Bob Burg: The sages asked, “Who is a wise person?” And they answered, “that person who learns from all others.”

To me, what that says is we can learn from anyone and everyone. From those right around us, to those we have studied from history, or experts we interview. In other words, everyone has wisdom to share or lessons to share.

I remember Jim Rohn (author of 7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness: Power Ideas from America’s Foremost Business Philosopher) saying: “You can learn from anyone. From some people you learn what to do, and from others, what not to do.” I agree with that, because there have been plenty of people in my life that I’ve learned what not to do. And that was valuable to help me grow.

I think the big thing is to keep learning. In our Go-Giver books, we speak about the Law of Authenticity, which says: “The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.”

I think authenticity, like the word influence, can often be misused or misinterpreted these days. Authenticity can be confused with not growing. In other words, a person says, “I am what I am, and I’m not changing,” or “I have anger issues and that’s why I yell, and if I do something differently, then that wouldn’t be authentic.” Well, that’s just silly. That just means they authentically have a problem to work on.

When you truly accept your authenticity, you step into the highest level of your authentic self possible.

There’s certainly something to be said to seek wisdom from those who we feel are more successful than us (financially, health wise, career wise, emotionally, spiritually). I try to seek out wisdom from those who are more successful than I am. It only makes logical sense. But I believe that you can learn from anyone and from any and every interaction.

Stephen Dupont: In our digital age, I see more and more people using technology such as social media or email to conduct business. One of the things that struck me about Alex Banayan’s book was that he sought to meet people like Bill Gates face-to-face. Certainly, he could have conducted those conversations over the phone, like you and I are doing now. How important is it to still meet with people face-to-face to develop relationships and conduct business?

Bob Burg: That’s such a great question. And it’s so cool that you noticed that with Alex. I still think, all things being equal, that face-to-face meetings are the best way to build relationships and conduct business.

Use face-to-face meetings to build relationships and grow your network.

At the same time, I don’t think it’s an either/or question. I don’t think it’s face-to-face or through technology. I think both are good and both add to the other. Certainly technology offers us the opportunity to meet more people than we ever could have beforehand.

I also do think that true win-win relationships can be built over social media.

The first time I really understood this was when I would interview people for my blog (before my podcast), and I asked Dondi Scumaci (author of the bestseller, Designed for Success: The 10 Commandments for Women in the Workplace) if I could interview her. I loved following her tweets, so one day I reached out to her through her Twitter page. At that point, we had never met.

So we got on the phone and started talking like old friends and I asked, “By the way, have we ever spoken before?” and she said, “No, I don’t think we have.” So there’s a case where social media helped us to get to know one another really well before we actually spoke with each other over the phone. And since then, we’ve interviewed each other and we’ve spoken at each other’s events. So, technology is a great tool in building relationships.

But if it’s a yes or no question, all things being equal, I would say “yes,” I believe face-to-face meetings are definitely a step above building relationships online.

Stephen Dupont: In your Go-Giver book series, you use the stories of Joe, or in your most recent book (The Go-Giver Influencer), Jackson Hill and Gillian Waters, as a vehicle to share your principles of success. How important is storytelling to influencing and persuading people (to buy a product or service, to cast a vote, to make a donation, etc.) and do you have any recommendations on how professionals should incorporate more storytelling into their sales process?

Bob Burg: One thing I’d like to mention in answering this question is that my co-author for the Go-Giver books, John David Mann, is a gifted storyteller. He’s really the lead writer and storyteller. I’m much of a how-to kind of person.

John David Mann, co-author of the Go-Giver books.

Now, when I speak on stage, I tell a lot of stories, but those are stories that give examples to illustrate a point. They’re true stories.

With the Go-Giver books, we’re using parables to get our message across. We’re sharing truths based on real life using fictional stories.

I think storytelling is more important than ever before. Keep in mind, history, for a long time, was communicated through an oral tradition. So story telling has always been important. But I think today storytelling has taken on a different level of importance. That’s because there’s so much information out there. The question is how do you get through – how do you capture the attention of people. I can tell you, it’s usually not through facts.

There’s an old saying. And again, it’s another one of those sayings that’s half-way true: “Facts tell, stories sell.” I learned through John that it’s not necessary that stories sell, it’s that they connect. They connect with people on a heart-to-heart level. When you make that connection, then you can sell. Meaning your ideas, your product, your service, your concept, or your idea.

As I mentioned, “all things being equal, people will do business with — and are willing to be influenced by — people that they know, like, and trust.” And I would say this happens more quickly through stories than through any other way.

Stephen Dupont: In this age of the Internet, many people or organizations do a great deal of research on their own about what they need to solve a problem, including research on specific products or services. Because of this, the solutions-selling approach is becoming less effective some say (Harvard Business Review: The End of Solution Sales) and is being replaced by a new approach, insight selling (influencing a potential customer as they’re researching what they need).

Then, we have your approach, as I see it, as in value-selling, based on your principle from your Go-Giver books, “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment”? Is that a fair assessment? Is value-selling the next evolution in selling and persuasion?

Bob Burg: Well, in a sense, I think they all come together. They all mesh. Remember, value is a relative worth or desirability of a thing; of some thing: this product, this service, this concept, this solution or this insight that brings so much worth to someone that they’re willing to exchange their money for that.

They’re also exchanging their energy, their time, and their lost opportunity (of doing business with someone else), and that through this choice, the solution won’t be too disruptive to their business. It’s always key to remember that value is always in the eyes of the beholder. It’s not what we find of to be of value, it’s what the customer finds of value.

Now, if you’re talking about solution selling, you’re helping a person come up with a solution, or you’re using your product to help someone find a solution, I think that’s what selling has always been. It wasn’t always done effectively, especially when the focus was on the hard sell.

Could you be successful that way? Well, sure. But it’s usually not sustainable. And you had to work really hard.

Now as sales become more sophisticated, we started to realize that people aren’t just buying a product or service, they’re buying a solution to a problem – or something that will bring them joy or happiness.

So it’s not so much that solution selling has been replaced, but added onto. The first person who wrote about this was Neil Rackham, who wrote the classic, SPIN Selling. It’s not spin, like we use to describe political messaging.

Neil defines SPIN as S for understanding the customer’s Situation; P, the customer’s problem; I, the implication of that problem; and N, the needs payoff.

It’s a masterful book written 30 years ago. It’s for the more complex sale, where there may be a lot of moving parts. Then about five or six years ago, another book came out called The Challenger Sale, by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson. It picked up on where Neil left off. It was another great book.

What both of them talked about was the concept of insight. Anticipating a customer’s problem before the customer recognized it as a problem. The sales person understands so much about the customer’s person’s problems that they can come in before those problems emerge and create opportunities.

Stephen Dupont: When I think about brands, I think that people gravitate to brands that align with their own personal values – and that serves as the basis for long-term brand loyalty. In the Go-Giver series, you speak of giving more in value than you take in payment, but how does aligning your values with those of your customer matter? If your values don’t align with a customer, should you not bother trying to influence or persuade him/her to see things your way (or buy your product/service)?

Bob Burg: There’s something I’d like to differentiate here. There are values and there is giving value.

In this case, values are the morals, mores, or operating principal mindset, or culture.

By the same token, a company’s values can hold value to a customer.

By way of example, let’s say Company A has certain political feelings about something. And there’s another company, Company B, that needs a product or service offered by Company A. Well, Company B may find the values of Company A so disturbing that they refuse to do business with them. Those values outweigh any potential value that Company A might offer. But, for another company, they may completely disagree with Company A’s philosophy or approach, but still do business with them. They like the product and let Company A stand for whatever they want.

Again, it goes to value – the relative worth that a company finds in another company’s products or services.

It can go the other way, too. A company may choose to do business with another company because they respect the values of that company so much that they’ll choose a relatively lower quality product over a higher quality product made by another company.

To the degree that we have a free market, the customer chooses a product or service based on the value they perceive.

Stephen Dupont: I’d like to go back to your concept about “know, like, and trust,” which is widely quoted (or misquoted!). Here’s the actual quote: “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.”

In an age where our trust in many institutions is being tested (government, corporations, media, etc.), how important is the role of trust in this formula?

Along these lines, I wanted to ask you about consistency, too. How important is it for someone to develop their consistency?

Bob Burg: So, in terms of trust, it’s even more important than ever before.

We have so much media out there that are trying to attract eyeballs. It’s their job. I’m not here to make a value statement about media, but often times they do stories that are not flattering about business or business leaders in order to attract the eyeballs.

A headline that does not sell is: “CEO Takes Great Care of Company’s Employees.”

A CEO or a business doing something bad, does.

In Daniel Kahneman’s magnificent book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” he talked about the effect of when we see something a lot, we perceive that it’s more prominent than it really is.

So, because we see so many more stories about leaders who are not to be trusted, we think that all leaders are not trustworthy. And that people in general are untrustworthy. It can very easily be said that we currently live in a low-trust society. In reality, I don’t think that’s really changed over the years, but because we see all of these negative stories, we perceive it in that way. We’re probably dealing with a continuum. A small percentage of people are 100% trustworthy. A small percentage are 0% trustworthy. In between, most people are mostly trustworthy, perhaps 75% to 80% of the time. That’s just an observation.

We live in a low trust society. Surveys and research have proven that.

The good news is that a company or a person who is able to communicate their trustworthiness – their worthiness of being trusted — is nine steps ahead of the game in a ten-step game.

Stephen M.R. Covey, the son of Dr. Stephen Covey, author of The Speed of Trust, breaks trust down into two categories: competence and character. Both are important. You can trust someone or a company’s character, but if they’re not competent, you’re not going to do business with them because they won’t be able to do the job to deliver sufficient value to you or your organization.

And vice versa. You can believe that a person or a company is very competent, but if you don’t trust their character, you won’t be doing business with them because it’s simply too risky. There’s too much to lose.

I absolutely believe that trust is critical today. And it’s something that today’s business leaders need to focus on — earning the trust of their employees and their customers.

Consistency is an important ingredient in the recipe of trust. This goes back to the caveperson days, when literally, every day was a life and death struggle. Because of this, consistency was important – you had to know who was who, and who did what. You had to have an agreement of what something meant. One mistake could mean death. So, when you went out to forage for food, you had to know what a bent twig left by another member of your tribe meant. It needed to mean the same thing every time.

Consistency is treasured by people in others. This is why I think fast-food restaurants are a role model for us. It’s not necessarily because the food is the best but the same, and you can count on how the food is delivered, how clean the restaurants are, where the soda machines are, how clean the tables are, etc. You feel safe.

Stephen Dupont: Another question about your “Know, Like, and Trust” formula: Does it need to be implemented in a linear process – someone has to get to know you first, then like you, and then trust you – or can it happen all at one time?

Bob Burg: I think “Know” comes first, only because you have to know who they are before you can like and trust them. You don’t necessarily have to know them well, but you have to know who they are. I think the other two are a little less linear. After all, you can trust someone without liking them.

Now, all things being equal, the person you know, like, and trust will get the business versus the person you know and like or know and trust. So, if a company is the only game in town, and you can reasonably trust them, you’ll do business with.

But, there’s a good chance that you’re not the only game in town. And therefore, if there’s someone who offers what you do, then a customer will do business with that other company if they know, like, and trust the other company more than your company.

So the key here, and this is where I am often misquoted, is the focus on the “all things being equal” or “close to equal.” Because when they’re not equal (or at least close enough to equal), “know, like, and trust” loses the power.

Stephen Dupont: As we look into the future, many futurists and foresight experts are forecasting a time when many jobs will be eliminated because those jobs can be performed less expensively with robots and artificial intelligence.

What do you think will be the key for people to stay relevant (and employable) in the future?

Bob Burg: I think this is very important. If you go into my Go-Giver podcast archives, you’ll find a podcast interview with Geoff Colvin, author of Humans Are Underrated.

The basic premise of the book was that we used to ask, “What can humans do that machines can’t do?” and we used to be pretty safe. Today, he says that question is no longer relevant, because basically technology can do just about everything that humans can do, and in many cases, even better than humans. And that’s not going to stop.

Now we will ask: “What can human beings do that consumers will not accept from technology, but will only accept from human beings?”

His book was absolutely brilliant. He points out that the most highly valued skills of tomorrow are what we call “soft skills” – empathy, leadership, teamwork, collaboration, kindness, emotional intelligence – that’s what going to keep a person relevant. Because while AI can do many things, it won’t be able to do these things – the soft skills — as well as a human being.

Stephen Dupont: Knowing what you know now, if you could give your 18-year-old self any piece of advice, what would you tell him?

Bob Burg: Yes, this is actually a very easy one for me. “Burg, you don’t know half of what you think you know.”

It reminds me of the old saying often credited to Mark Twain (though he didn’t actually say it, it sounds very…Twainian): “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

That was me when I was 18. Actually, that was me until I was 22 or 23. I just thought I had it figured out. I thought I understood human nature. Why people thought as they did. How the world worked. What was good and what was bad. And I just “knew it.” And I made a lot of mistakes.

So, that would be the advice: If Old Burg could go back in a DeLorean and have a heart to heart with Young Burg, that’s exactly what I would say.

Stephen Dupont: You brought up the word “mistakes,” how important is it to embrace your mistakes and learn from them?

Bob Burg: It’s very important. The wise person learns from their own mistakes. The really wise person learns from the mistakes of others.

So, learning from our own mistakes is a good thing, but not if we could have learned from the mistakes of others and avoided those mistakes in the first place.

We’re human and certainly we are going to make mistakes. To the degree we can learn from them and not repeat them, we’re on the right track. If we’re making those same mistakes and we’re getting lousy results, we owe it to have a heart to heart with ourselves or with someone we trust, and ask them, “What we’re doing wrong.”

Stephen Dupont: Thank you Bob for sharing your wisdom.

Bob Burg: My pleasure.

Stephen Dupont, APR, is VP of Public Relations and Branded Content for Pocket Hercules (www.pockethercules.com), a creative brand powerhouse based in Minneapolis. He is a frequent contributor to PRSA’s Strategies & Tactics and Forbes.com. Contact Stephen Dupont at stephen.dupont@pockethercules.com or visit his blog at www.stephendupont.co.

]]>https://stephendupont.co/sales-expert-bob-burg/feed/01041https://stephendupont.co/sales-expert-bob-burg/15 Steps to Define, Establish and Promote Your Expertisehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StephenDupont/~3/9mY27OgjrZA/
https://stephendupont.co/15-steps-to-define-establish-and-promote-your-expertise/#respondMon, 18 Jun 2018 18:25:57 +0000https://stephendupont.co/?p=101915 Steps to Define, Establish and Promote Your Expertise By Stephen Dupont, APR Do you desire to be recognized as an expert in your field? To be onstage at a conference speaking alongside other industry experts? To be sought out by the news media for expert opinion about a news story? To be honored by […]

By Stephen Dupont, APR

To be onstage at a conference speaking alongside other industry experts?

To be sought out by the news media for expert opinion about a news story?

To be honored by your peers for your professionalism, leadership and expert knowledge of your industry?

To be sought out by clients or executive recruiters because of your expertise?

Being recognized as an expert authority can bring many advantages, from the respect of your colleagues, peers and clients, to attracting more business (consulting arrangements, speaking opportunities, book deals, etc.) for yourself or your organization.

What many don’t realize is it’s the rare person who becomes instantly recognized as an expert. Based on my 25 years of experience in public relations, marketing and branding, the process actually involves a number of steps taken over weeks, months and even years. And, even after someone is recognized as a leading expert, that reputation must continuously be maintained through ongoing investments in personal brand building for an expert authority to remain relevant in our fast-changing business world.

In other words, expertise is something that is cultivated and nurtured over time between a person or organization and an audience or fanbase (including customers, employees and other stakeholders).

The process begins with intention – the decision to focus on a specific niche or market by placing one’s talents, skills and insight into the service of that specific niche. This isn’t just a matter of picking a specific market and saying “I’m going to be an expert at this.” What’s it’s actually about is finding your “why” — that axis between what you’re really good at and your passion. We’ve often heard people say, “I can only sell what I believe in.” So, what do you believe in yourself? Because the process of establishing yourself as an expert starts in believing you are so good at something that others will want the expertise that you have to better themselves or their organization.

For example, about five years ago I was contacted by a communications professional seeking advice on how to cultivate his expertise in marketing funeral homes throughout Florida and the Deep South. This person not only recognized an unmet need (funeral homes need marketing, too!) but he realized that his skills combined with his purpose in life could make the difference in the lives of funeral home owners and directors, and thus, those who need the services of funeral homes.

This applies to just about any profession – lawyers, doctors, plumbers, janitors, clergy, accountants, landscapers, truck drivers, or venture capitalists. Where people hire others based on their knowledge and insight, there are experts. And you could be one of them.

Here are 15 steps on how to define, establish and promote your own expertise or the expertise of another person, such as a business leader within an organization for whom you work or a client:

What is your expertise?

1.) Identify your professional expertise/specialty – If you went to school to study a specific field of interest (e.g., business management, chemistry, neuroscience) and/or have worked within a specific profession for a number of years, you could say that you’re an expert in that field. However, whether you’re an electrician or a lawyer, within most professions, there are areas of specialties that further define expertise. In the world of communications, for example, you may be good at many things, but what you might be exceptional at corporate communications (e.g., working directly with the C-suite). As a roofer, you may be good at installing many types of roofs, but you stand out as an installer of flat roofs. So, start here: What are the three to five specialties within your profession at which you excel? Of these, are you more knowledgeable about a specific area or practice than your peers?

2.) Identify your industry expertise – In my career, I’ve worked with clients representing at least a dozen different industries, from financial services and transportation to packaged consumer goods and software automation, however the majority of my clients have been focused in just a handful of industries. Some of my peers have worked almost their entire careers in just one industry, such as health care or financial services. What about for you? Is there a specific industry where you have a great deal of experience? Also, are you an expert in working with organizations of specific sizes (small businesses, mid-sized companies, Fortune 500 companies)? For example, my neighbor, who is a CPA by training, is an expert controller for small- and medium-sized trucking companies.

3.) Identify your geographic market – Expertise can transcend geographic markets. For example, if you’re a corporate lawyer who is an expert in pre-IPO digital ventures, that’s an expertise that can be taken just about anywhere in the world. However, you may choose to be an expert serving a specific area, such as my friend, J.C., who is an expert in HVAC systems serving customers along the Outer Banks islands of North Carolina. Because J.C. is recognized as the go-to guy, he does very little if any advertising – all of his work comes through word-of-mouth, and it’s allowed him to own a nice home alongside that of a Boston neurosurgeon who comes down for just a few weeks every year. Or, you may live and work in a smaller market, such as Duluth, Minnesota, and after realizing that there are only so many healthcare institutions in your city/region to support your healthcare IT practice, you look to expand your expertise to other nearby markets in Wisconsin and North Dakota. The key here is to identify a potential base of customers that will allow you to make a living. Keep in mind, some professions have limitations, such as the requirement of a license to practice in a specific state.

4.) Identify your experiential expertise — Not all expertise is to be gained by following the traditional script of going to college and establishing a white-collar career. Look at Bill Sandy, owner of Sandy’s Blackhawk Island, who has established himself as one of the preeminent experts on muskie fishing in the U.S. and Canada, or Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, one of the world’s most well-known extreme skiers. In the book, The Third Door, author Alex Banayan explains, through face-to-face interviews with well-known experts and business leaders such as Bill Gates, Qi Lu, Lady Gaga, Quincy Jones, and Jane Goodall, that many of the most successful people we know did not follow a traditional path to success. So, you may be a very good CPA or a really great nurse, but maybe you should look beyond that to experiences such as flying drones, hiking up Colorado’s 14 mountains topping 14,000 feet, or collecting 2,000 comic books as an expertise that can be shared with others.

5.) Claiming your expertise – Here’s the one thing about expertise that you should know – it’s not determined by how many years you’ve worked in a specific profession or an industry. Rather, it’s based on how many miles you’ve traveled and how many different roads you’ve taken in the journey. So yes, a 23-year-old can be considered an expert on a particular subject (such as social media) based on his or her experiences and can be taken as seriously as a 50-year-old who has worked in that particular area for the last 25 years. Certainly we have seen over the past 15 years with the rise of various blogs, people who have become experts over time, even though they publicly stated when they started their blog that they knew little to nothing about their subject (e.g., weight loss, running, digital photography, cooking, etc.). Part of claiming your expertise is earning the respect you deserve. That comes when not just your followers adore you, but when your peers come to respect you as well. Often times, that’s tested in public when giving a talk, sitting on a panel discussion, or during a live interview with a media outlet – it becomes clear whether you know what you’re talking about or not.

6.) Sharing your expertise – Another aspect of being respected as an expert is your openness to sharing your knowledge and wisdom. There are many people whom we would consider experts, but who are not, because they withhold their knowledge and/or refuse to collaborate with others. The whole point of seeking to position yourself as an expert is your willingness to be a leader in your field, and that means leading by bringing others together to continue advancing the field’s pool of knowledge. In other words, experts give. They create value within their field of expertise by seeking others (not just new customers) to share their wisdom and insights. They think not just about today, but of the legacy they want to leave for the next generation.

Establish Your Expertise

7.) Build social credibility – To be recognized as an expert, you need to have social credibility (or social proof) – those authoritative factors or elements linked to your personal brand that are recognized by your peers, customers and other influencers. This may vary based on your profession or field of expertise. For a corporate attorney, social cred may be earned by representing blue chip clients, or having litigated a high profile case. For other professions, it might be obtaining an MBA or a Ph.D. from a well-known school such as Harvard, Cambridge or McGill, or having publishing an article or research paper based on original research conducted by you in a peer-reviewed journal. For advertising professionals, it might be winning a major advertising award for an ad campaign. For political advisors, it often requires working on a major political campaign. Other professionals, such as an HVAC professional I know, built his social cred with HVAC training videos on YouTube. A financial counselor built her social cred by writing a book and appearing on a local radio program taking questions from listeners. Look closely at how other experts in your field obtained the social cred they needed to speak as an authority figure.

A group of experts participating in a panel discussion at an industry conference.

8.) Identify other experts in your field or market – Within the spectrum of experts will be those who are well known, those who are not and many in-between. Identify where you stand among existing experts and start to cultivate relationships with them. While you may compete with some of these people for customers or in thought leadership (marketplace acceptance of ideas and concepts), the reality is that you and other experts in your field all have something in common — the desire to lift your profession or industry up. And that comes through collaboration, the sharing of information, and the setting of new standards.

9.) Understand what’s next – The top experts in your field don’t just think of today, they’re thinking of tomorrow, or possibly, way into the future. They apply a futurist mindset to their knowledge. They search for patterns and trends that will have far-reaching impact on future developments on their area of expertise. They push the edges of curiosity, and they’re continuous learners. For example, the expert intellectual property attorney may be curious enough to wonder about the legalities of an invention developed by an artificial intelligence-powered robot sometime in the future, or whether the intellectual property laws of the U.S. apply to an invention developed by an American living on the Moon or Mars.

10.) Build a platform – With so many experts out there, you need to distinguish yourself from the pack. How? By developing a unique point-of-view, or platform, from which to express your expertise. Take a close look at your industry or profession. What do you see that no one else sees? Notice any patterns? What would you change if you had the power, influence and resources? Where does the danger lurk? Should the alarms be sounded? Take some time to literally write out your views and compare them to what other experts in your field are saying. If you need to, do your own research to validate your thinking and your unique approach to your field.

11.) Take on leadership roles — Experts take on leadership roles within their profession, their industry and their communities. They serve as advocates for their industry, their community or the causes they believe in. They serve on boards, they participate on committees, and they mentor. It’s in leading that they build personal relationships that allow them to share their expertise and collaborate with their peers.

Promote Your Expertise

12.) Express your thinking – After you’ve developed your unique points of view (POVs), begin expressing those POVs with your existing customers, potential customers and your peers. One of the easiest places to start doing this is through LinkedIn, which allows users to publish articles through LinkedIn Pulse. Also consider: publishing articles on your company’s blog or on Medium, or posting shorter messages on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. At some point, you may want to create your own blog to share your ideas and expertise, seek opportunities to speak at industry meetings and conferences, and offer webinars or seminars, which allow you to share your expertise.

Note: Don’t confuse being recognized as an expert with the modern day definition of being an influencer (someone with a large social media following). You can be a highly sought-after expert without a large social media following.

13.) Write a book – Many experts write and publish books to cement their expertise (their thinking or special point of view) while building out their marketing platform. Being an author and having a book to your credit is still perceived as a strong sign of social credibility. A book allows you to claim your expertise while creating a foundation of content that can be turned into other types of content (videos, articles, white papers), which can be used to attract new fans. In addition, a book offers an opportunity to generate editorial coverage, speaking engagements, and social media posts.

14.) Seek third-party editorial coverage – In his book, Endless Referrals, author and sales expert Bob Burg notes, “all things being equal, people do business with those they know, like and trust.” Let’s pay attention to that first word — “know.” If people don’t know about you and your expertise, then they’ll never come to like and trust you, and ultimately do business with you. That’s why experts need to put themselves out there and share their expertise. One of the most proven ways of doing this is making yourself available to media outlets, including bloggers, who are seeking expert sources for information, insights and informed opinion for the stories they share with their audiences. This means developing relationships with reporters, editors and bloggers and making yourself available for interviews or writing articles for a magazine or a blog.

15.) Build a community – As you become known, liked and trusted for your expertise, you will build your own community of followers, with whom you can communicate directly through “owned” media (a blog, social media pages, or an e-newsletter whose content you control). To accelerate this process, focus your efforts on building an opt-in email list of people who have an interest in receiving information and insights directly from you (vs. through a third party). If you’re not sure how to start, begin by creating a short list of people with whom you have business relationships and start by sharing articles or videos created by yourself that you believe can add value to their lives. Eventually, this list may grow into a formal, opt-in email list that you can use for a daily, weekly or monthly e-newsletter or alerts (e.g., corporate attorney sends alerts to people on her email list about about new SEC regulations). Building a blog also is an efficient way to stay in touch with your growing fanbase by sharing free content about important issues and topics.

Your Expertise = Your Personal Brand

Building your expertise is the first step in a longer journey involving the building of your personal brand. It’s the foundation of your personal brand – the bricks, so to speak – that will help you attract and retain a growing following of people who trust you for your thinking and wisdom, and who are open to sharing that thinking with their network. After all, you become known by the company you keep and the ideas you share.

Did you find this article helpful? Check out other articles about branding, marketing and communications by Stephen Dupont at his blog, stephendupont.co.

Stephen Dupont, APR, is VP of Public Relations and Branded Content for Pocket Hercules (www.pockethercules.com), a creative brand powerhouse based in Minneapolis. He is a frequent contributor to PRSA’s Strategies & Tactics and Forbes.com. Contact Stephen Dupont at stephen.dupont@pockethercules.com or visit his blog at www.stephendupont.co.

]]>https://stephendupont.co/15-steps-to-define-establish-and-promote-your-expertise/feed/01019https://stephendupont.co/15-steps-to-define-establish-and-promote-your-expertise/Learning the Art of the Askhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StephenDupont/~3/jDgNWjvymNs/
https://stephendupont.co/learning-the-art-of-the-ask/#respondFri, 01 Jun 2018 12:12:04 +0000https://stephendupont.co/?p=998Learning the Art of the Ask Everyday, we ask others for things — to do something for us, or to give us something. Some asks, however, are more difficult than others, such as asking for a sale, the money to fund a new business, or for a donation to fund a big cause. Here are […]

Learning the Art of the Ask

Everyday, we ask others for things — to do something for us, or to give us something. Some asks, however, are more difficult than others, such as asking for a sale, the money to fund a new business, or for a donation to fund a big cause. Here are some thoughts on learning and mastering the art of asking.

By Stephen Dupont, APR

How will you ever know, unless you ask?

For many people asking for something from another person is very difficult.

In fact, sometimes, it feels like the hardest thing to do in the world.

Asking for money…

For a date…

For a job…

For a referral…

For a raise…

For help.

There are no college classes in learning how to ask for the things we need or want. We’re supposed to figure it out on our own.

And because we’re so worried about what the answer might be, we avoid asking, even when asking would be the best thing to do.

My friend, an insurance broker, laments that a younger associate just lost a $3 million contract.

“He tried to do it all himself,” he said. “He didn’t let me and or anyone else know that he was working on it. If only he had asked for help, we could have gotten that business for him and us.”

Losing Our Ability to Ask

Learning why you need to learn how to ask is the only way you are going to move forward to bigger and better things.

In our tech-driven world — where we’ve grown accustomed to asking Google or Siri for help — part of the problem is that we as humans are losing the ability to ask others. Not our ability to ask a machine, but to ask a living, breathing human being.

Instead of picking up the phone or meeting someone face to face, we hide behind emails and text.

Rich, who runs a real estate brokerage, shared his frustration with me in the hallway on our way out of the office one evening:

“I can’t get any of my people to pick up a phone and talk to a client, much less go meet our clients in person,” Rich said. “They spend all of their time on their phones and laptops emailing and texting their clients. I just don’t get it.”

And yet, our phones are with us all the time. Everywhere we go.

It’s in having those conversations that we can obtain the context that can lead to a mutually beneficially relationship.

Yes, we can ask people to share their pain points by email.

Yes, we can ask for information through online surveys.

But, if we really want to know — if we really want to understand and comprehend — we need to ask in a phone — or, better yet, face-to face — conversation.

Why You Should Ask

The act of asking is an exchange of value.

I ask you to buy my product, to give me your vote, to volunteer your time, or to donate to my cause.

I ask you for information that will help me make a decision for help to help me get somewhere I want or need to be, or to prevent something that may cause me harm.

I ask you to enjoy an experience together that will further our relationship, such as go to a movie or eat together at a restaurant.

Asking comes more easily when we know that our likelihood of being rejected by the person we’re asking will cause us little embarrassment, or shame.

That’s why it’s easier for us to ask those we trust and love.

The Secret Sauce of Asking: Trust

Where there’s a lack of familiarity and/or trust, asking is harder. In such a situation, there’s an uncertainty as to whether the “ask” will be mutually beneficial.

For example: You receive an email from a company of which you’re not aware, offering an incredible piece of software that will enhance your company’s operations. Why should you respond? You don’t know the company, much less, the actual person who sent the email. How do you know it isn’t some hacker out to scam you?

Or, what about those emails and calls you receive from a salesperson who sends an email that is obviously off message? Working for a creative firm, I love the emails from the companies that contact me to say they can help our firm create powerful content. Don’t they realize that we are in business to do just that? Why would we farm out that which defines us — the very thing we do better than anyone?

Building Trust

Sales consultant Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals and Go-Givers, says “when all things are equal, people do business with those that they know, like and trust.”

Endless Referrals by Bob Burg

How do you build the trust to allow you to ask more effectively?

Like most things, you need to practice. Asking more. And asking for bigger and bigger things.

It’s through this process that we build trust.

We ask for a sale, and then we must deliver to the customer’s satisfaction, which earns us the opportunity to ask again. In that process of exchange, we learn to trust one another.

How do I know this? Well, for the majority of my career as a public relations professional, I’ve had to learn how to ask reporters to do stories about my clients. I have made tens of thousands of asks — from local bloggers to the most well-respected and influential news media in the world.

Through that process, I have persuaded thousands of reporters to write or produce stories about my clients.

But by the same token, I’ve been turned down thousands of times as well.

In fact, I’ve probably been turned down at least three or four times for every ask I’ve made.

That sounds like failure.

I learned early on that asking a person, such as a reporter, repeatedly to write a story about one of my clients without a really good reason not only was inefficient, but it often ruined my reputation and harmed my ability to work with that same reporter in the future.

Although I employ technology to assist me in my efforts, frankly, even today, many years after I entered the profession, the most effective asks still boil down to a personalized request to a single individual based on a fair amount of homework.

Before I ask, I try to learn everything I can to make that ask more relevant. This has helped me increase the percentage of yes responses.

It’s often the same for other professionals. Whether you’re seeking a major order from a large corporation or you’re the founder of a start-up, there you are, sitting across the table from another person, asking for the sale.

Overcoming No

While it’s common for sales professionals to take courses in how to sell more effectively, for the rest of us, learning how to ask more effectively isn’t something we’ve been taught.

And yet, if you look closely at your life, you’ve been practicing asking since you were a little child.

You asked a parent for a candy bar while standing in the check-out lane.

You asked Santa for a very special Christmas gift.

You asked a friend for a ride home after school.

I remember one of the most important asks in my life. I was 15 and a ninth grader. My father had a small janitorial business — his side hustle — in addition to his full-time day job as a barber. One Sunday afternoon, after helping him clean an office building, we were on our way home and we drove into the parking lot of the grocery store located in our small town on the outskirts of the Twin Cities.

Sitting on the passenger side of the front seat, he parked, turned off the car, and said, “I’ll wait here while you go in and ask for a job application.”

“What?” I said, “Okay, who should I ask?”

“You go in and ask one of the cashiers.”

So, I did. In my ripped-up football jersey and worn out blue jeans, I went up to Doris the cashier and asked for an application. Doris called for a manager, who led me to the store office in the back of the store where I met one of the assistant managers.

I was ready for a “no” right there on the spot. But, I asked, and was handed an application and told what time to come back the next day to meet with Tom, the store manager.

The next day, I biked backed to the store. This time I wore better clothes. I turned in my application, where I received a short interview from Tom, the store manager.

Again, I was ready for him to say “No, I can’t hire you.”

I have no clue what I said, or how I presented myself. But he hired me, and I started working that spring, just before the summer months as a bag boy.

Break It Down

To prepare ourselves for the big asks in life, we need to practice with obtaining small “yes’s.”

Start with small yes’s.

For example, you can’t attend a college without first completing and sending an application.

Same for most jobs — before you can actually ask for a job, you need to fill in a job application.

Want to see your art considered for a big show with other artists? Complete the online application.

Want to read a story about your organization in a local business magazine? First, go online and download a media kit. Or, request a media kit through a contact form.

Successful sales professionals follow this rule: Instead of going for one big ask, seek a number of small “yes’s” instead. They create a “yes ladder.”

We do this for many things. For example, when I proposed marriage to my wife Rebekah, we both had obtained smaller yes responses from each other. Yes to a first date. Yes to a second date. Yes to our first trip together. Yes to visiting each other’s families. Yes to moving in together. While proposing marriage felt like a huge deal, in reality, we had both said “yes” to each other before the big ask, which made that decision much easier for both of us.

The same process often applies to winning a big contract, or obtaining a large donation for a fundraising campaign. Way before we get to the big ask, we build a series of smaller asks. The process allows the two parties to build trust in each other until, they decide to fully partner on a big project or initiative.

Be Your Own Matchmaker

Over the course of my career, I’ve been asked many times, to what do I attribute my success at media relations or publicity?

Before I pick up the phone or send an email to a reporter, I carefully study what that person has reported upon in the past. I study other stories that a publication or program has published or aired. I get a media kit to better understand the ideal person that a media organization is trying to reach, and to whom it has tailored its content.

Then I try to match what the publication or program is trying to achieve with what my client wants.

It’s all about alignment and relevance.

The more relevant your story is to a media outlet’s readers, viewers or listeners, the more likely you will score a placement. In other words — the more likely the reporter will say yes to your ask and invest the time and effort to write a story, produce a segment, or conduct an interview.

There are two factors involved in this process. First, by lowering the risk for the reporter, the more likely are my chances to persuade a reporter to do a story about one of my clients. Second, you’re appealing to emotion — you genuinely want to see the person whom you’re asking feel excited about the prospect of writing or producing a story.

The same dynamic applies to other situations, such as asking an angel investor to put up money to fund a new venture, asking people to contribute to a crowdfunding campaign, or inviting someone to vote for you.

For example, I recently spoke to a venture capitalist about what he looks for in a new opportunity. It boils down to this: acquisition cost. If a business knows exactly how much it will cost to obtain a new client and has a goal in place to lower those costs, the venture capitalist told me he’d consider a deal. If a start-up owner is unsure of those costs, the venture capitalist won’t touch it.

That was the first threshold to be met by the venture capitalist.

The second is the upside potential. Is the business in an up and coming industry? Does the business have a game-changing new approach? Does the business have the potential to grow 10x, 20x or 50x?

It’s not just about anticipating what someone may want, it’s understanding who they are and what they need to make their lives better.

In working for a large manufacturer of HVAC equipment, I came to realize, it’s not about cooling a building. It’s about precisely controlling the indoor environment to help people feel more comfortable. People who are more comfortable are more productive workers. If they’re in a hospital, they heal faster. If they’re in a classroom, they’ll learn better.

Imagine the asks:

“Hey Building Owner, would you like to lower your heating and cooling costs by 20 percent?”

Answer: Yes

“Would you like more control over the indoor environment of your building so you can precisely change it to meet the needs of the users — and avoid hearing complaints that your building is too hot or too cold?”

Answer: Yes

“Would you like to have your building be more environmentally sound and sustainable?”

Answer: Yes

“Would you like to see how another building, which is about the same size as your building, is benefitting from our HVAC system? Talk to the owner of that building about their experience?”

Answer: Yes

What makes these asks even more effective is understanding if the Building Owner really does want to reduce their costs or if he or she really is concerned about the impact that their building is having on the environment, or if they really do want to make their building provide a more comfortable environment for the people using it.

That’s where doing your homework comes in.

First Question to Ask

That’s why that first question you should ask is NOT “Will you buy my product?”

Rather, the first question to ask is “What challenge are you facing?”

This question might be framed in different ways, depending upon the industry and the situation, such as:

An insurance underwriter might ask a tech company: “What risk are you trying to lower?”

A start-up might ask a venture capitalist: “Are you seeking an investment that can generate a 50 percent return in five years?”

The key here is to understand if a person is not only to understand exactly what another person needs, but to gauge the motivation of another person. Are they ready to make a change? Are they open to making an exchange?

Anticipate the Answer to Deliver a Solution

Of course, the secret is that you have a sense of what the answer may be to the question you’re asking.

If you’ve done your homework, you already know what an investor is seeking in a start-up investment.

You already know what a reporter is seeking in a story. You already know what a potential employee is seeking in terms of compensation.

If you’re asking someone to buy a product or service, you have a sense of whether they’re ready to buy or not.

After all — this is how you add value to the equation. If you’re not prepared with a solution, then why ask in the first place.

I’ve learned this process through trial and error, asking thousands upon thousands of times. What I have also learned is that asking can feel truly exhilarating when what you are asking is in complete alignment with meeting the needs of the person being asked.

When you master the lesson of alignment, you will master the art of asking.